Dooku the Magnificent
by Brightwil
Summary: This story imagines what happens if Count Dooku uses Order 65 to overthrow Palpatine and becomes the new Sith Master. It also covers the chaos that happens when the truth that the chancellor was a Sith Lord. Don't count on anything that exists in the Expanded Universe, some of it I haven't read and some of it I don't like.
1. Chapter 1

Dooku the Magnificent

Contents

Chapter 1 1

Chapter 1

Chancellor Palpatine was sitting tied up in a chair waiting for his "rescue" by Anakin so that Anakin can assassinate Dooku and take his place. His plan was almost complete with Anakin at his side he could start setting things in motion the final stages of his plan to become the undisputed ruler of the galaxy. Anakin and Obi-Wan finally enter the room _. What in the force is taking Dooku so long? He should be here by now. My whole plan will fall apart if he doesn't get here soon. He shall pay for this. If I he isn't here for Anakin to kill, I will kill him slowly._ He reaches out with the force but can't find him. _That is strange, the noise of battle must be distracting me too much. When I get back I must meditate to find him_

Anakin arrives and says "Time to leave, chancellor. We have to get out of here now." With no real choice left him he finds his way to the confrontation with Grevious. _At least this is going off as planned_ he thinks. Grevious escapes as planned and so does Palpatine, Obi-Wan and Anakin.

Meanwhile on a cruiser in hyperspace...

 _Darth Sideous thinks he can replace me with Skywalker does he?_ Count Dooku thinks _. Did he think I wouldn't notice how much time he spends with Skywalker?_

He turns and speaks into holocommunicator to a confederacy spy inside the Republic's main military communications center "Initiate protocol 65. Have an entire battalion of clone troopers ready in a half hour. He should be landing by then". His spy, a man named Jando Vorlees, replies "Are you sure the overlays will work." Something indeed to worry about, if he gets caught he would likely be put to death for treason. He was willing to die to overthrow the corrupt republic but not for no reason at all. "Yes, now just get going." replies the count.

In the clone barracks near the Republic Senate inside his Spartan office Clone 13234 also known as Blazer received the message "Order 65 initialization by GAR confirmed, contacting Republican Senate" he then presses a few buttons and a new holo is shown "Mas Emedda, is order 65 confirmed? Has the chancellor been declared a traitor?" He gets the reply "Order 65 is confirmed, the Senate voted on that 15 minutes ago. Do not move until you have an entire battalion with you. The other battalions will follow you in when they have formed up " "Contacting Jedi Council" "Master Yoda, is order 65 confirmed?" "Confirmed Order 65 is, A Sith Lord he is" Yoda confirmed. "Order 65 has been confirmed. Orders to wait to gather entire battalion. I will have to contact the other 3 companies. " Coming out of his chip induced trance Blazer marches down the spotless corridors and says to his men. " We are meeting up with our other 3 companies. Order 65 has been confirmed and now former chancellor Palpatine has been declared a traitor to the Republic. Deadly force is authorized if necessary. Other battalions are on the way there. They must think he truly is a Sith Lord to call together so many men. If he truly is a Sith Lord don't underestimate him. That could well be the last thing you do. This could get messy men if the Senate Guard interferes. Make sure all communications in the Senate Building are cut. "

Deep in the bowels of the Republic's governments main secret communications center Jando Vorlees thinks to himself _The tyrant Chancellor Palpatine will soon lie dead and the corrupt Republic will soon follow. I will have a glorious death no doubt and I will be a martyr to the CIS. History will write about my triumph in death and how I helped overthrow the corrupt Republic and instituted a glorious new regime. A regime where the government isn't paid off by criminals. The droid army of the CIS will overwhelm the grasping Republic with its corrupt senators selling their votes to the highest bidder and the hypocritical Jedi when it gets here. Dooku's override sure came in handy, I wonder who made it. It must have been difficult to break Republic Codes, fake the voiceprints electronically, and spoof the retinal scans. He must have planted spies everywhere_.

The entire battalion looked impressive on the march. Over 500 men marching in unison. They got into the waiting gunships. 6 more battalions forming behind them and more were gathering in Corescant. Blazer thought it was overkill but orders were orders. Besides that they were apparently facing a Sith Lord. Everything he has read in history seemed to confirm the idea they couldn't be taken lightly. AT-TE were also on the way with their heavy armor and weaponry. Still, 3000 of them should be more than enough. However the Republic was activating virtually every battalion on Corescant. Why the Jedi weren't sent he had no idea but he was not one to question orders and neither were his men.

In the senate building Chancellor Palpatine sat up with a shock. He felt a sudden disturbance in the force. A whole army was coming this way and were after him! He tried calling the Senate Guard but all communications were cut off. As he watched 2 gunships were dropping men into his room. More gunships were dropping off troops all over the Senate Building, by the sound of it they were evacuating it. One of the clones see him move quickly to get his lightsaber just in case the Jedi were coming as well and the trooper saw this as a hostile action and fired. Not bothering to ask questions he uses force lightning on the first 40 men. 25 of them drop dead instantly the other 15 open fire. He survives their fire when another 40 drop in. Through the force he shouts "Anakin, help me!"

Senator Priship was shocked to hear gunships approaching. Looking out the window he was even more shocked to see AT-TEs outside. A couple of clone troopers crash into his office. One says "Due to the emergency we are evacuating the Senate. Follow us outside." He was about to ask what the emergency was when he heard the sound of fighting upstairs. He decided that it was now a good time to get out. Whatever was happening he didn't want to get stuck in it.

Senator Amidala heard shooting from above her before a clone trooper crashed into her window and said "Due to the emergency we are evacuating the Senate Building". She follows him out and says "What is going on here?" after getting to a safe area. "Palpatine is resisting arrest that was made by order of the Senate, GAR and Jedi Council. Apparently he is a Sith Lord." Padme was floored. The chancellor was a Sith Lord? "When did this happen? I didn't leave the Senate more than a half hour ago and why didn't I hear about it?" The clonetrooper replies "I don't know why you weren't informed but I have more people to evacuate, senator" She follows him and says "Yes, of course. I should have thought of it but has been quite a shock"

Through the force Anakin heard Palpatine's cry. He had to get to the Chancellor right away. As he gets close to the Senate Building he sees entire battalions of men, dozens of gunships and AT-TEs. He asks a trooper on his way in what was going on."The chancellor has been found guilty of treason by the Senate and was declared a Sith Lord by the Jedi Council, general" He tried contacting the Jedi Temple via comlink but all he got was static. He knew what he had to do. He had to get to the chancellor's office right away. The chancellor was no Sith Lord, there must be some mistake. He needed to get there to straighten it out.

Anakin ran into the Senate Building and saw Palpatine fighting 3 score of soldiers with dozens of dead around him and was blasting them with force lightning. Anakin started thinking about things. As far as he knew Chancellor Palpatine was not known for being strong in the force. He wasn't a Jedi or ex-Jedi otherwise he would have known about it . Force lightning was not generally known for being used by the Jedi but the Sith because it caused a great deal of pain. Count Dooku used it against him more than once. . He started thinking about how Palpatine was always supporting him in council which was more than a bit odd considering their age difference. It was far more likely an old guy like Palpatine to back the elder Jedi over a youngster having more in common and more likely to think that the youngster s doesn't have the experience of his elders rather than coming up with new ideas. It must be true , he was a Sith lord and he was leading Anakin by the nose. It was all a ruse to get Anakin to fall to the Dark Side. It was the only thing that made sense.

Reaching out with the force he suddenly grabbed Palpatine and slammed him into the ground, with a gesture he slams him on both walls. Anakin's power was too much for him, particularly after fighting scores of clones. He could do nothing as Anakin slammed him from one wall to another. As he was dying he realized Dooku was behind all this. There was no other way for this to happen. Dooku must have found out about Order 65. He knew Dooku had spy rings in the Republic, he set them up himself. Dooku must have set up more without his knowledge. He must think that now is the time to grab power or perhaps he figured out his plans for Anakin. His last thoughts were _Well played, my apprentice!_

On the bridge of The Swift Executioner Count Dooku felt the death of his old master with a feeling of satisfaction. Nothing could stop him now. He looked down at his apprentice who said "Are you now going to invoke Order 66?" In his deep voice he answered "No, my apprentice. It is now impossible. Order 66 has to be called by the Chancellor. Since there is no chancellor it cannot be invoked. I had to choose between one and the other. If I invoked Order 66 first there could have been no Jedi conformation of Order 65 and it wouldn't have gone into effect. The Chancellor was more dangerous to my plans than the Jedi Council could be. Indeed we need to retreat to the heart of the CIS as reinforcements are approaching Corescant. Before we can return again I think the Jedi will discover Order 66 and remove it. We have to deal with them some other way. Fortunately the Republic will be in chaos." The Swift Executioner vanished into hyperspace along with its escort. Count Dooku had no intention of dying right now.

The casualty list was in 63 dead troopers, 145 wounded along with 2 gunships sent crashing to the ground. The Republic was in utter confusion. The revelation that its chancellor was a Sith Lord through the government in chaos. If the chancellor was a Sith did that mean Dooku was right and the Republic was so corrupt it needed to be overthrown?

On the other hand Dooku's misdeeds couldn't be overlooked. Too many had seen too many atrocities by Dooku first hand or from family or friends second hand for there to be much doubt that the CIS was much more violent and oppressive. What to do? The Senate quickly realized they needed to pick someone who was almost above reproach and they picked Bail Organa. Bail was Palpatine's main rival for the chancellorship last time round and thus about as far distant from the old leader as you could get. He was also well known for his forthrightness and honesty.

Bail Organa sat thinking. Yes, Palpatine was a rival but he respected him He saw him as an honorable rival for most of his career. Thinking back he realized that Palpatine was grabbing more and more power. He knew that, of course, but he thought that was just ordinary politics as people tend to go into politics to gain power. In most case he didn't seem to push for it in the first place.

The Senate needed to be reformed with the Trade Federation totally kicked out but even as chancellor he couldn't do that without reason particularly in the current situation. He could hardly act like a dictator when his predecessor was a hidden power hungry Sith Lord.

The question of the war was puzzling. Should he push for peace now or not? It was easy when he was standing on the sidelines but now that he was in charge and had the safety of the entire republic as his responsibility he had to consider the fact that Dooku might agree to a cease fire merely to use as time to build up his forces. He had to talk to Mon Mothma and Bel Iblis maybe they can help him figure it out.

Captain Rex was trying to console General Skywalker. Rex felt very close to the general and considered it a great honor to serve under him. "You couldn't know, sir" he said "He tricked us all, even Yoda was fooled." Anakin sighed "I know, Rex but that doesn't help. The man was like a father to me. I am an orphan you know so I had no father growing up and I left my mother when I was very young. I feel as bad as people whose own father betrays them. "

He muses "Maybe I should see Obi Wan, he has been like a father to me too, or at least an older brother. As a fellow Jedi who was betrayed as well maybe he can understand what I am going through. No offense, Rex." "None taken, sir. General Kenobi has always had my highest respect and I think talking to him might do you a world of good. " Rex answered and it was true, next to Anakin there was no general Rex respected more than Obi-wan.

Anakin returned to the Jedi Temple where the Jedi Council was waiting for him. Yoda says "Look over you I must. Darth Sideous was a powerful Sith, powerful Sith was he. Block my vision he may have." He gazes at Anakin. He says "Close to the Dark Side, you are. More training to control your emotions you need. Wrong to not train you myself in the first place, it was. Train you now, I will. Too many mistakes I have made. Resign as head of the Jedi Council, I will." All the Jedi gathered look shocked at the last statement. Yoda had been the head of council for longer than any of them have been alive. They could not picture the Jedi Council without Yoda at the head.

Anakin shouts "Are you saying I can't be trusted? That I would ever turn on the Republic?" Yoda answers "A Sith you are not. Become one you may be until learning to control your emotions you do. Much potential you have. To control your emotions you need help. Dealt poorly with Palpatine you did. Allow him to surrender you did not. Kill him in anger you did. The way of the Jedi this is not "

Obi Wan says "We discussed this just prior to you getting here. The war has affected you more than you want to admit Anakin. You are far from the only one in this. A short time away from the war and some time working through the emotional stress can't hurt you. You are far from the only one effected. We are planning to pull many Jedi away from the front line. You aren't being singled out here. I will help you as well and I think Ahsoka might be able to help you too. She might not be a part of the Jedi Order anymore but she knows what you are going through and knows you better than almost anyone else."

Anakin sighs "You are probably right. This war has been going on too long and I have lost too many friends. A number of Jedi and countless clones. It will be good to see Ahsoka again, she is a nice kid but do you think she will help after what happened during her trial? She is far from happy with the Jedi right now."

"She might not help the Jedi Order itself but she will help you. You are her friend Anakin and you stuck by her even in her trial and she knows that. Call her, and bring her here as we have to check her too. Tell her you need her and she will come. I know her enough to be certain of that." Obi Wan replies in his cultured voice.

"You are right, Obi Wan. I will call her right now." Anakin says getting her on the vid. "Hi, Skyguy" Ahsoka said in a voice that made it clear she was glad to hear from him" It's been a while. What is up? Is it about the Chancellor's fall? Everyone is talking about that."

"No, Ahsoka. I need your help. I need you to come to the temple to see me." he replies

"You know I don't want to go to the temple and you know why. They almost let me die. I would have died if not for you. They were doing nothing to help me." she responds. The council looks very uncomfortable about this, more than one looks more than a little guilty.

"I really seriously need your help Ahsoka. Without your help I may not make it." he says She looks shocked and then resolute "If you really need my help I will be there. I will be there as quick as I can. We have been friends for a long time and I won't abandon you."

She arrives 20 minutes later and Yoda looks at her and says "Many of us have fallen to the Dark Side to help Skywalker look deeply at you I must." She looks annoyed then resigned "If that is what it takes then so be it." Yoda looks at her "Like I thought it is" "It's my temper, isn't it? I can learn to control it, I am sure of it." she replies nervously. "Calm down, Ahsoka. Before Anakin arrived we discussed this. Master Yoda thinks that you are strong on the light side." Obi Wan replies

Yoda looks at her kindly " Although control your temper, you must. Strong on the light side you are. " ." The point is, Ahsoka, you can be a good example for Anakin. You can be an emotional anchor when he needs it." Obi Wan adds. "I'll do it." she says instantly "Anakin needs me and he has always stuck by me in the past. I can do no less for him. "


	2. Chapter 2

Entering Jedi Temple Obi Wan asked Luminaria "Are all the clone chips pulled yet?" She answers "All the ones on Corescant and the ones sent with the 3 masters after Gunray. The other Jedi are returning to Corescant and the chips are being pulled from the rest of the clones from Corescant outwards. They should all be out in 3 months. Those clones who haven't had there chips pulled won't be anywhere near Jedi, of course. We dodged a close one there. If we didn't check the clones after Palpatine's death Dooku might have activated order 66. It is too late now."

Anakin was summoned to the temple a couple hours later and thought he was ready for anything but he was wrong. Yoda had things all arranged for a surprise. " A new Head of Jedi Council, there is. Obi Wan it shall be." Anakin looked shocked for a second and then smiled saying "Aren't you a little young for the job, Master Kenobi?" Obi Wan looked a bit stunned himself "The youngest in over two millennia apparently. The council felt it was time for young blood. That it was becoming set in its ways. I apparently have been picked to shake things up a bit."

Anakin grins and shakes his hand "I think the council did the right thing, it does need some changes. You are going to have to do a lot of studying. There is a lot of work that needs to be done. " Obi Wan sighs "Don't I know it, I am going to have to spend weeks in the Jedi library. "I hate to say this , Master Kenobi but I think they are looking more for youthful energy than massive changes. You aren't that much of a radical." Anakin says. "I have to agree with that, I have been a fairly conservative Jedi considering my age but most of the Jedi Masters are even more so. " he replies " They are looking for youthful energy, new ideas but tempered with pragmatism. We can't do too many changes too fast because the order can adapt only so fast. That is why I was picked. A real radical would change too many things too quickly and make a mess of it."

On the Swift Executioner a young woman asked "Why are we decreasing the number of super battle droids to increase the number of regular battle droids. The super battle droids are more powerful." "True, my young apprentice but much more expensive. We will need more garrison troops in the near future more than assault troops. A number of worlds have joined the Separatist Alliance since Palpatine's death and they need troops to maintain order. It does no good to acquire a planet if you can't control it. Assaulting planets is a job for super battle droids for their tough armor and heavy weapons but garrison troops need to be cheap and disposable. There is nothing more disposable than a regular battle droid. A few million more or less won't make much of a difference" Count Dooku replies.

"I see, I guess I will pick these things up in time." she replies. "See that you do, to be a true Sith you must know more than the ways of the force. You need to know strategy and tactics. War is the way of the Sith, my young apprentice." he replies. "The way of the Sith is not just the acquisition of power, no matter what the Jedi say" he continues "The power you acquire serves a purpose. The self-worth of any being is their strength in the force. Those weak in the force are of no importance. Only the strength of the force matters. The only way to prove your strength in the force is to test it. It is the job of the Sith to bring law and order to lesser beings. We are the only ones fit to rule. Because we are the ones to rule we are above the law. Lesser beings can not see what needs to be done for an orderly galaxy. "She bows her head "Of course, my master."

Bail Organa sat in his office thinking Great, just great another senator just resigned that is all I need right now. After the Palpatine scandal broke 2/3 of the Senate resigned along with all the cabinet and 3/4 of the Supreme and Appeals court justices. The senior bureaucracy was in complete chaos as a result and Organa didn't have time to do anything except look for replacements. He had Padme and Mon Mothma recommend some people but that wasn't enough. He had replaced the defense and treasury ministries as they were the most important at the moment. He had replaced the Chief Justice and one of the other Supreme Court justices. Fortunately 300 planets had laws that had their planetary leaders replace their senators if they were unable to complete their term but the rest had special elections. At least the clones were reliable he hadn't any problems with them.

A few days later Bail Organa entered the Jedi Temple and went up to Master Kenobi and said "Master Kenobi, we have tracked Nute Gunray down again. Without a Sith Lord tipping off the Separatists that we found him we have a good chance at holding him this time. He is in the Al Godoro system and should remain there for three days. We will send you off with 4 cruisers and an entire brigade of clonetroopers this time. Hopefully we can hold him."

"I am a bit busy now getting settled as the head of the Jedi Council and doing a lot of research. I will send Mace Windo, Master Fisto, and Master Mundi" Obi Wan replies. "I meant the Jedi in general, Master Kenobi not you personally. It must take some getting used to being the head of council" Bail says. "Indeed, but no more than becoming chancellor. I had no idea that the corruption was spread that wide." Obi Wan states.

"Not nearly as much as it might appear from the outside. Not all of those who resigned were corrupt, some resigned because they wanted to avoid the 'witch hunt' others because of death threats some lost all faith in the Republic and some were really that crooked. I am trying to get the some of the honest ones to retake their seats. I have succeeded with 5 senators and 4 judges and 2 cabinet members. "Bail explains.

"I wish you luck, chancellor. The Republic can use the good news and the experience. Having a bunch of inexperienced tyros at the head of the Republic might do as much damage as the corruption itself" Obi Wan says "Thanks, have them ready by 22:00 tomorrow night." Bail responds. "Will do" Obi nods "They will be ready"

On the Swift Executioner Count Dooku summons his apprentice "Dark Maul is going to Dothomir to get himself a new apprentice now that his brother Savage is dead and so is Darth Sidious. No doubt he will try to overthrow me. He may be a complete fool but he is a very good fighter and he might actually get someone with brains as his apprentice."

"Isn't that risky, Master considering how dull witted he is? An apprentice that is much brighter than master is a grave threat to the master. After all cunning is more important than force" she replies. "You are correct, my young apprentice. However, a fool by definition doesn't know he is doing something foolish. Mother Talzin will led him by the nose. It is all too likely she will pick someone far more capable than Maul this time around. She knows she needs more than a mere thug to take me down "he replies.

"Isn't she dead?" replies his apprentice "I thought you had her killed". "So I thought but she seems to have survived and she will want revenge. Last time all she needed was a thug so because she had Assaji Ventriss to guide him and she is no fool. So she will want to plant someone more competent this time and Maul will fall to his apprentice." the count replies. "Someone with a little more imagination than simply setting himself as a crime boss, I take it. Why did Palpatine pick such a fool in the first place?" she says.

"He was only meant as a placeholder until Palpatine found someone smarter. He could fight so as an assassin and thug he worked well. Once Palpatine found someone brighter he simply would have killed him or demoted him to assassin and taken on a new apprentice." the count replies.

"I see" she nods "That does make sense" "Cunning such as that is the way of the Sith." he notes approvingly.

Mother Talzin said to her new student "I have foreseen a former Sith Apprentice named Darth Maul will arrive here soon. There hasn't been much time to train you since I recruited you to help reform the Sisterhood but when he comes he will train you more. His strong suit is fighting and there he can teach you well. However, that is all he can teach you as his mind is very limited. You are to manipulate him to help get our revenge against Count Dooku. You should find him easy to manipulate. Males are easy to manipulate particularly stupid ones. Have him train you in fighting and try to him to expand his horizon past being a petty crime lord. When you are strong enough either kill him unless you have totally manipulated him to do your bidding. Remember to be loyal only to your sisters and not to the Sith. They may be used but your first loyalty lies with us. Their ways are not our ways and far more foolish. Although, like us, they realize a person's worth is determined in how powerful they are with the force they constantly try to prove it by staging violent coups whenever they think they are strong enough. They have no real loyalty to each other and the apprentice will try to kill his master and replace him when he can like Dooku just did so they are ruined by infighting. We are loyal to each other. We only kill each other if there is treachery involved. Report to me whenever you can so I can advise you further."

"Yes, Mother Talzin. I will do as you ask. I will always be loyal to you and my sisters as they will be loyal to me. I will contact you when I can. "she replied

Nute Gunray was talking to his subordinate about the big profits they were making in battle droids when the alarm sounded. Four cruisers came into view. Nute Gunray jumped out of his seat and paced nervously. Unless he thought of something quick he was dead. Why was the Republic way out here? His guns started blazing and he said to the droid pilot "Get us out of here now. Go into hyperspace to the nearest planet."

The droid answered "Entering data into the navicomputer now, it should take a minute for the calculations to complete."

Mace Windu was aboard the Tattooine Sunrise (Named such to help keep the Hutts on the side of the Republic by naming one of its ships after a Hutt World) when he saw the ship. The intelligence seemed good for once as they picked up a transmission with Gunray's voice and it was indeed out here alone. We are fairly deep in Separatist Space so this better be over quick. Still with 4:1 odds they had a good shot at it. "Fire all weapons on their hyperdrive we don't want him to escape this time. Ready the boarding craft."

30 seconds later he got the message "Their hyperdrive is now down, repeat the hyperdrive is down."

Mace replied " Get companies A-D in shuttlecraft I will go with Company A, Master Fisto will go with Company B and Master Mundi will go with Company C. Company D will go in the rear and support wherever it is needed now go. "

Nute Gunray was half paralyzed with fear when he heard the hyperdrive was out. "All Battle droids deploy to repel borders. Super battle droids shall concentrate on officers while droidikas will concentrate on the Jedi." A few minute later he heard a lot of blaster fire. The sound of droids hitting the floor along with a number of clones could clearly be heard. He could smell the blood of the injured clones along with their cries of pain. Despite this the sound of fighting got closer and closer.

Mace Windu fought his way past a large number of battle droids, deflecting their blaster fire with ease. Gunray didn't have nearly enough droids to stop three Jedi and it showed. He doubted the others had any more difficulty than he did. When he got to the control room he saw Gunray and pointed his lightsabre at him and said "You are coming with us" Gunray quaked in fear and then followed Mace and the clones into captivity.

When he returned to the bridge Mace received bad news "A signal was transmitted to Count Dooku over Gunray's capture." a clone said "What? Didn't you jam his transmission?" Mace said. "Yes, sir but we had a bit of bad luck. A ship just entered the area and spotted the battle and reported it to Count Dooku right away "he answered

"Damn, what bad timing. They will try to figure out where will come out and send ships there and unfortunately they have more ships closer by. We need to refuel close to their space and they will know that as we are deep in their territory. Alert the Republic, we will have to hold out there until reinforcements arrive." Mace says.


	3. Chapter 3

Darth Maul was pleased when he heard about the death of his former master. Not only did he kill his brother but he did so in a way to make sure he had a good view of his death. He would have liked to kill Palpatine himself but that fight showed him he was outmatched. Even with his brother he wasn't able to come close to killing him. What made the fight particularly infuriating was the knowledge that Palpatine was just playing with them and could have ended the fight at any time. He realized that at the time but hoped that his former master would be so overconfident that he would open up his defenses just enough for him or his brother to get the one good shot they needed to take him out. That was not to be for Palpatine was by no means that foolish. He was arrogant to be sure but that arrogance was backed up by real power and that power was overwhelming. Even in a lightsaber duel they were clearly outmatched. He even switched off his sabers for a while and then just effortlessly dodged Savage's attacks. Worse yet when his brother died Palpatine laughed about it and then he mocked Maul for thinking he was still his apprentice. "There can only be two of them and you are no longer my apprentice . You have been replaced!"were the words that still echoed in his ears. Rage still filled him over that and that strengthened his connection with the dark side. Now he was a Sith Master, all he had to do was find an apprentice. After he found one they would gang up on Dooku. He heard the witches of Dathomir. were almost wiped out by Dooku and wanted revenge. He wanted revenge on Dooku as well. If it weren't for Dooku he would have remained the Sith Apprentice not a mere assassin . They would help, yes they would help. He would feed on that hate, hate for Dooku , hate for his master , hate for the arrogant Jedi and hatred for the weak Republic. The dark side was strong in him and his hatred would make it stronger. Once Dooku was dead he would be the true Dark Lord of the Sith. A Sith Master that would spread terror throughout the galaxy. His position as a crime lord would only be a stepping stone. With the power of the criminal gangs nothing could stop him.

Mace Windo was in the fight of his life. Shortly after he arrived they were jumped by no less than 7 Separatist cruisers. Fortunately the refueling base had some big guns of its own and was heavily shielded or it would have been all over. Mace had to hold on for only 10 minutes and then he could get out of here. A number of droid fighters got past the screen and knocked out a couple of guns. The cruisers were circled around the base under the protection of the big guns. The base might have had a lot of firepower but it also couldn't move and you could always overwhelm it with enough ships and the Separatists had plenty of droid fighters to throw at it. It had anti-fighter laser canon but with 7 wings of fighters there not enough of them and the guns got knocked out one by one. One of his ships was finally blown to pieces by a Separatist cruiser and one side of the base had all its weapons knocked out. Suddenly 4 Republic cruisers dropped out of hyperspace and entered the battle. It wasn't quite 7 to 7 odds like it would be if it were at the start of the battle , it was 4 fresh ships and 3 very badly beaten ships against 7 mostly whole ships. They only needed to hold out another 3 minutes though. The fresh ships took the forward positions to screen the battered ships their fighters coming out of their bays in large numbers. At least they had more fighters as there was a number of enemy fighters blown away. It was enough. Mace's ship was the first to go into hyperspace followed quickly by the 3 battered ones. The fresh ships left last leaving the base to its fate. It was doomed and the Republic would need to send more ships to retake it.

Ben Kenobi had been busy the last few weeks in the library looking through old records. It soon became plain to him that the Sith were able to get into the computer records and corrupt them. They did not quite jibe with the holocrons . Studies being done with the numbers changed so the Jedi would draw the wrong conclusions. However this had to have happened over time. Palpatine couldn't be responsible for it all, the studies were too old for that. The Sith must have broken the access codes for the computer long ago. How long ago? Centuries it looked like. The computer access codes were complex but for the right money someone could be tempted to sell it. Probably an outside expert that the Jedi used to run their systems. Most Jedi were fairly good with computers but rarely real experts. That took a lot of training and they spent their time training to use the force. Since the holocrons were much more difficult to access and corrupt he trusted them far more than the computer records. He himself saw how a changling henchman of Cad Bane was able to infiltrate the library. If Bane could do it so could others. He obviously had an access code, probably given to him by Palpatine and he must have bribed a tech. This must have happened for generations. _We need better security screening for sure_ he thought. But even Bane needed a Jedi to open a holocron and it was difficult to see how even a Dark Jedi corrupt as many holocrons that would be need to be corrupted for him to pull it off. Council members could access them, of course, but even their access was tracked. The council was fully aware one of their own could be corrupted . All sentient species could be corrupted . Even Yoda could become corrupt under the right circumstances. He would have to take this to the full council.

Bail Organa was looking over military records when he noticed a pattern quickly . There are far too many humans and not enough non-human admirals. He didn't notice that before because he was busy with other things but practically all the admirals were human. _I need to fix that we can't just have humans running the navy due to bigotry , we need the best whether human or non-human. Just another way to divide beings and make them hate each other. What can you expect from a Sith? I am not even sure if Palpatine was himself bigoted or if it was simply another tool in the Sith arsenal. Maul certainly wasn't human._ He got a beep from his conn and he answered it. "Grand Admiral Thrawn to see you sir" came the voice of the receptionist. _Thrawn? I dont remember any Thrawn among the grand admirals I would think I would remember all the names._ "Did you check his credentials when he came in? I don't remember any Thrawn." he said "Yes, sir I always check them. He checks out all right." she replies "Well show him in, I will see what he wants." Bail says He was surprised when he saw a blue skin near human enter. _Chiss I believe they are called. Rather rare but they have a reputation for competence. This helps I was going to promote non-humans anyways._


	4. Chapter 4

Maul entered the swamps of Dathomir. Dathomir. was far from his favorite place at least the part where he was going. The witches were at the swamps so to the swamps he must go. Hot , humid swamps full of all sort of vermin. But it couldn't be helped , if he wanted to see Mother Talzin he had to go through this vermin infested swamp with biting little bugs that made him itch.

He finally got there and saw Mother Talzin who looked the same as ever. " I have foreseen your coming Lord Maul. You want a new apprentice , yes?" "I need a new apprentice if I am to overthrow Count Dooku. From what I have heard you want him gone too. You help me and you will get your revenge." he nods "Very well, we can help each other I think. This time I will give you a female. It will suit you better than a male this time. You are a great fighter, Lord Maul but you could use a little witchcraft to help your rise to power and to help us get our vengeance on Dooku. Dooku must pay for his crimes against the Sisters and you. "He smiles "Yes, a female would do well. With her witchcraft and my fighting skills nothing can stop me from my getting revenge on Dooku. With my revenge you get your revenge. I hope his fall will be a long drawn out humiliation. He deserves nothing less. "

She replies " Be careful not to draw it out too long. The Count is very dangerous and you can't underestimate him. As far as the sister you chose wisely. A nightsister will serve you well. With her help we can destroy Dooku and both get our vengence. Her name is Ione"

An attractive nightsister stepped forward. She had a fabulous figure and dazzling eyes. _Things are look up, I can get used to her_ Maul thought. Mother Talzin noticed his attraction for her _Males,always thinking with their gonads. It makes them easy to manipulate and the stupid ones mistake good looks for lack of brains when they have nothing at all to do with each other.  
_  
Ione looked Maul over _He seems very fit but he would have to be to be such a great warrior. The dark side is strong in him its power almost radiates from him. If he was a bit brighter he could have become a true Sith Lord. In a way it is a shame so much power is controlled by such a dull mind. However he was as strong in mind as he was in body I could never manipulate him. He seems attracted to me. I can use that, males of that kind are easily used by brilliant beautiful women such as myself._

Ione had no false modesty, she knew she was bright , beautiful and powerful. No use in pretending otherwise to yourself was her motto. She was quite willing to pretend otherwise to others if it served her purpose. _Better to be underestimated than overestimated, people let their guard down around people they think they can easily outdo. This will be easy.  
_  
Mother Talzin said "Let us see both of you spar. It would be good to see how much you need to teach her, Maul. " She then hands them both weapons. His is made of metal with a wooden grip in the middle. He sparred with these before as it resembled a double bladed lightsaber. You had to earn your training saber whether you were a Jedi or a Sith. If Mother Talzin were a Sith he would have considered it an insult at this point as he earned his saber. However, nightsisters were known for their energy bows not lightsabers so she might well not have one at the moment. Ione was given a wooden pole that was carved like a lightsaber. Things were about to begin.

Maul started out slow. Going full out against a novice would teach them nothing, it was over before they could learn anything. That was a lesson his former master drilled into him. Although his first session with Palpatine seemed very difficult Palpatine was holding back. A fact that he discovered later. He didn't realize how much he was holding back even in Maul's last practice session before Naboo. The battle he had with Palpatine alongside his brother showed how much he was holding back. Even in the duel itself he easily handled them. Then there was his being slammed back and forth. He never was so helpless in his life. He begged for mercy and then Palpatine said "There is no mercy " and fried him. He wondered if even then he was holding himself back.

The first cut by Maul was easily dodged by Ione who responded with an upper jab that Maul parried. He sped it up a bit and went for her legs and she jumped over it and then swung at his chest. He did a backflip over her head and she turned around and parried. He stepped it up a little more and connected with a shot to her shoulder. Since a fight of this kind didn't end until someone was knocked down she tried tripping him at the knees which flipped over and connected with a shot to her head and she went down. "Your form is sloppy and a bit slow but we will work with that, you have potential my new apprentice" "Thank you master" she replied . _Eventually I will learn your fighting techniques and then I may well teach you the true power of the force. The true power of the force wasn't lightsaber duels like he thinks. The true power of the force comes through illusions, mind control and curses_ she thought.

During the battle a single shuttle landed on Dathomir. unnoticed by the two combatants. However Mother Talzin noticed and thought _Now let us see how they face their first true test._

A girl stepped off of the shuttle. She was a girl with something to prove. If she could defeat Maul she would earn her master's respect, otherwise she would earn only his ire. His ire was something to be feared. Suffering under his force lightning more than once for "failing him" she wanted that repeated as little as possible. She was willing to go through so she could have her revenge on the hypocritical Jedi. True peace could only come through total unity of purpose. If order could come from within it had to be imposed from without. The Sith would end this destructive conflict, impose order and have peace. True the order and peace would be at the price a lot of the freedom Republic Citizens were used to but it was for the greater good. After the Sith took over the only conflict would be at the top, the people at the bottom wouldn't be caught up in the fighting. They would have to bow down to the Sith and follow the law to the letter but that was the price for having a lack of willpower and discipline. The Sith deserved the power and glory because they were bringing peace and order to the galaxy. Peace and order were coming to the galaxy whether its inhabitants want it or not. Only swift hard punishment for breaking the law could bring order to the galaxy. If some suffered needlessly for it so be it. She was willing to pay the price. If the price of peace and order was freedom than that is what would have to happen. Lesser evils for the greater good.

She made her way through the swamp. It smelled , it made her itch and it was hot and humid. _I guess this is just another test_ she thought. . She made her way through and saw Maul and some woman sparring. _Must be the witch_ she thought.  
The witch did better than she thought she would. The witch was clearly no match for Maul but she could clearly fight. The witches weren't known for their hand to hand fighting skills mostly but their use of force powers and energy bows. _She might not be a Sith but I can't underestimate her, the witches are all too dangerous_ she considered warily.

She took them both by surprise but Maul whirled in time, catching her blow high. The other just stood there seeing how it would play out. _Maybe she is testing Maul, that overconfidence could do her in._ Maul slowly started pushing her back. She did a back-flip on to a tree. She then force pulled Maul up when she suddenly got force pushed out of the tree.

" Not that way. You will have to beat him in a duel. That is the only way I can learn" Ione said. _Great , this really is a test for her and so far I am losing. I can't beat both of them, time to leave._ She then gets to her feet and runs with Maul chasing her. She hears a voice cry out "No, let her go. She will tell Dooku of your power which will build up his fear. Time to leave for Mandalore. " _Must be Mother Talzin and she is right I have to tell Dooku. At least we know she is going to Mandalore. He isn't going to take this failure well but I can bear pain to bring order and peace to the galaxy.  
_  
After the apprentice left Mother Talzin to Ione said "I will send one of your sisters with you wearing my shape. Her job is to be seen on Mandalore so Dooku thinks I am there. I must remain here in my place of power. Only in my place of power can I use my most potent magics. Also the other sisters must be trained here. You are the best and the brightest of us that is why I am sending . Your sister Tia will take my shape." Ione replies "But she is the most dull witted of us, why her?" Mother Talzin says ":That is precisely why she is going. As I said all she needs to do is be seen and even the dullest can do that. Besides she has potential, not as much as you, but potential. I picked her for a reason. You are to keep an eye on her as much as you can. She is your sister and so she is not expendable. If you have to pick between her and Maul protect her. She is your sister and your loyalty lies with her" Ione says"As you wish Mother, I will keep an eye on her".Mother Talzin replies "Good, now I have to speak with Maul" .

"Lord Maul, as you know deception is the way of the dark side so I am sending another sister in my place. She is there just to be seen, not to teach. If our enemies think I am on Mandalore they will leave me alone here." she says Maul replies "Yes, you are a crafty one. Never let anyone know what you are planning or doing if you can help it. That is the way of the Sith. An ambush or a betrayal works only if it is unexpected." .Mother Talzin answers :"Exactly, you do understand. Never let your enemies know what you are doing." .

 _Nor can you betray your "Allies" if they know what you are up to. I wonder if you thought of that Maul_ she thinks.

Note: The apprentice is young and naive. She doesn't realize yet that the struggles between Sith tend to spill over on the "little people". Dooku suspects this but he sees it as the price needed to be paid to get rid of the corruption in the galaxy. Both Lucas and Chris Lee said they thought Dooku is actually trying to do good for the galaxy but hasn't realized how much the dark side corrupted him. Dooku is as much reforming the SIth as Kenobi is reforming the Jedi.


	5. Chapter 5

Mace Windo was in a bad mood, he always was after taking heavy losses. He took no less than 50 percent casualties and lost a cruiser. Fortunately most of the casualties would recover after a time in the bacta tank but all too many were beyond recovery. He had to meditate for a while before interrogating Gunray. In his mood he was far too likely to slip towards the dark side and he knew it. He loathed Gunray for his greed and treachery. Mace knew full well that hate led to the dark side so he would meditate until his anger and hatred were greatly lessened. Only when he calmed down was it safe to question Gunray.

Gunray was in a state of panic. At the very least he would lose everything he had and spend the rest of his life in prison. He also had no doubt that Dooku would try to have him killed after he talked. He was sure the Jedi would eventually break him. Master Luminara nearly did so after only a short time and the Jedi would be relentless until they found out everything. His willpower was fairly weak and he knew it. He was too easily swayed by lust, greed and fear to be strong willed. He hated to admit it to himself but standing in his cell he knew it was true. Why the Jedi didn't question him yet he had only a few ideas. The best he could come up with was that they knew the longer he waited the stronger the fear would grow and thus the weaker the will.

It was an hour before Mace came into the cell. Gunray was nervously wringing his hands and licking his lips. "Tell me of your secret allies and where you get your orders." Mace snaps at him.

Gunray whines "I know nothing , I am just a pawn." Mace expected this, Nute said the same thing to Luminara . From what he could tell Nute had no imagination or adaptability . He did things by the numbers and rarely varied in his thought. You could guess what he could say before he said it. He wasn't stupid but he was completely set in his ways. "If you are the pawn, who is the boss? If you aren't running things who is?" Mace asks "Count Dooku of course" Nute replies. Mace says " Don't think I am stupid. If you are a pawn Count Dooku talks directly to you only once in a while, if at all. He works through minions then . Who is the minion who gives you his orders?" Nute replies "No one, I swear".

Mace glares at him "Then you aren't a pawn , are you? Now who are your secret allies and how do you get your orders? Save yourself some grief we both know you are going to tell me eventually . We can do this the easy way or the hard way. It is your choice." Making him sweat like this would weaken his will, Mace knew, and the weaker he could make it the better for both of them. The less the mind resisted the less chance of doing any damage to it. Nute was weak-minded he was sure but he wanted to reduce the risk of any permanent harm as much as possible. It was close to getting to the time to use force persuade. He would do so regardless if Nute talked or not. It was the only way of making sure he was telling the truth.

"I have no secret allies" he gibbers "You will tell me who your allies are" Mace says "I will tell you who my allies are. Senator Haznal, Senator Gregor, Senator Lashk, Allan Rumpas, and Dan Ranham" Nute replies "Rumpas of Alkar electronics and Ranham of Ranham transport?" Mace replies "Yes, they wanted to join the Trade Federation." Nute repies "The senators were in military budgeting. No wonder they were your allies. You both could make money through war profiteering" he continued. "You will tell me where your secret bases are." Mace says "I will tell you where my secret bases are. Hawl II, Oceap IIII, Dawlan I and Yanark I. " Nute replies.

"See that wasn't so hard " Mace grins. "What have I said? You tricked me Jedi." Nute replies. "Yes, I did. You will have a long time to reflect on your crimes." Mace answers.

Count Dooku was talking to his apprentice in a large well furnished room. The two of the them were the only ones in it but Dooku saw no reason not to be in a fancy setting. He liked it and it showed his wealth and power to his apprentice. For once not on the force itself but on Sith Philosophy and Sith Government.

" Who are the most important people in any society?" Dooku asks The apprentice answers"Those who are strong in the force, master. The second strongest serves the strongest while the 3rd strongest serves the 2nd strongest and so rule by the will of the force. They also impose their will on it. By imposing their will on the force they prove themselves worthy of wielding it"

He asks "Since not many are strong in the force who are secondary in power?" "Those high up in the military followed by the rich. Those high up in the military have proven themselves willing to sacrifice for the state and have been proven through conflict to be strong in mind and body while the rich have proven themselves intelligent and sly ." is the reply "Does it matter how they gain their wealth?" Dooku asks. "Those who obtain wealth through cunning and trickery are more to be respected than those who acquire it through inheritance or honest methods. Those who obtained it through cunning or trickery won it through the conflict of mind. Those who obtain it through honest methods don't display the cunning needed in the New Order. They may be weak minded caring about the weak and the slow. They may also be hampered by personal morality when, for them. loyalty to the state is all that matters." she replies.

"Who are to be of the third rank?" he asks. "The professionals are of the third rank such as non-military government officials , engineers, scientists, doctors and scientists. They have proven themselves worthy through their intelligence and their ability to serve the state through their skills." she replies.

" What of the rest?" Dooku replies. "Those of whole mind and body of those who are left are fit only to be subjected to the rule of their betters. At best they are to be told what they think, do or say. They are to follow the orders of their betters without question. Once they are at home they are to be mostly left alone as long as they obey the law. The media is to be highly censored as it is foolish to allow people to get ideas when they don't have the wisdom of the force to tell which are good and which are the bad." she replies.

"What of those who aren't whole of mind and body?" he asks. "They are totally expendable master. If capable of simple tasks they are given them. Since they are completely expendable health and safety regulations do not apply to them nor are they to be given anything but the cheapest and most basic medical treatment. Being of little worth to the state it is foolish to spend money on them. Those unable to do simple tasks are to be put out of their misery. They are of no use to the state and are not worth spending a single credit on." she replies.

"What is the flaw of the Republic?" he asks "The flaw of the Republic is that it is a democracy and the weak and the stupid have a voice in it instead being put in their place and told what to do." she answers.

"What are the mottoes of the state?" he asks "Strength , order, unity. Only through trials of strength can your worth be determined. Strength need not be merely physical, but emotional and intellectual as well. Indeed the last is the most important in this day and age. Brute force does not prevail over cunning. The strongest warrior will be taken down by a far weaker but more cunning one. Order is maintained by everyone knowing their place. Their place is determined by their conflicts which are more often mental than physical. Assassinating your superiors are confined to the Sith and there are rules for that. Unity is needed for peace in the galaxy. If there is only one government then their is no fights between them and all the fighting is confined internally letting most live their lives in a lawful, orderly fashion. With strong law enforcement people will be safe to walk down the street at night as criminals will be dealt shift, harsh punishment. This is to the better good." she replies.

"You have learned your lessons well, my apprentice." Dooku replies.

Note: I wanted a reason for the Sith doing what they do more than they are simply evil. This quasi-fascist philosophy gives them some sort of reason. It also gives people some reason to support it. Those lower down can rise all the way to the second rank if they "prove themselves worthy of it" and the rest can be kept in line through fear.


	6. Chapter 6

Ben Kenobi called the Jedi for a meeting . He opens it up by asking "Have any of you heard of Revan?"

Master Fisto answers "Wasn't he a military genius from the time of the Old Republic that found the Star Forge, united the Sith and then redeemed himself and rejoined the Jedi?" Master Kenobi answers "That's him. The interesting thing is when he was a Sith he carefully kept the Republic infrastructure intact. Almost all other Sith before him were only interested in destruction. Not him, he seemed to be genuinely interested in keeping the economy intact. Chancellor Palpatine also seemed to want to keep the Republic infrastructure intact. We know little of the recent Sith Lords because they mostly kept their heads down but most of them seemed uninterested in destroying the Republic economy"

Master Windu asks "What are you getting at?"Master Kenobi replies "The Sith changed. They have gotten smarter which is one reason we didn't spot the chancellor for being a Sith. They have changed more than we have which is why they became more of a threat. We were right on the edge of being wiped out before we discovered the plot and that only because his apprentice betrayed him. Indeed we thought the apprentice was the master. It made sense because outside of pretending to be the head of the Separatist Senate he looked like a classic Sith Lord. To keep up we have to change too. Order 66 shows how dangerous the Sith were becoming. I ran simulations and the results are troubling. There was a real possibility for the Jedi being totally wiped out. Count Dooku didn't use it because he couldn't use that after order 65 was used as there would be no chancellor afterwards to order it. He saw Chancellor Palpatine as the greater threat so in typical Sith fashion had him killed. Count Dooku will no doubt have something else up his sleeve. "

Mace replies "We know that which is one of the reasons we picked you. Your time with Anakin has allowed you to be able to think outside the box from time to time. We older Jedi are getting set in our ways."

Obi Wan says "It is more than that. Do you know why Revan remained on the light side even after he learned the Jedi wiped his memory and gave him a new one? That kind of thing is something that you would expect would move him back to the dark side so why didn't he? My best guess is Bastilla Shen who was his lover. When she was captured by Darth Malek he was committed to opposing Malek because of his love for Bastilla me and thus the Sith. When he met her again on the Star Forge it strengthened his resolve. The woman he loved was no longer there. Her mannerism completely changed . The whole thing made the dark side repulsive to him. Eventually they had a baby. I found the whole story on the holocrystal he left. He is not the only one by any means but as one of the more well known and powerful Jedi it was the one I picked out for an example. Which might explain why the computer records have been tampered with. "

Mace says "The computer records have been tampered with? Are you sure of this Kenobi? How do you know? You are no computer expert."Obi Wan replies " I compared the holocrystals to the computer records and they varied and they varied greatly. As you know holocrystals need a Jedi to open them. Even Cad Bane knew that and he isn't a Jedi. He was able to break into the computer easy enough. He had to use a changling to do it but it wasn't difficult. As such I feel the holocrtystals are far more reliable than the computer records. "

Mace replies "I see, what differences did you notice?" Obi Wan replies "From what I can tell we are doing several things wrong because of the false data implanted by the Sith. For one thing there is no evidence you need to be a child to learn the ways of the force and even less that you need to be separated from the rest of society to learn it. If anything it seems that leaving them with their parents will strengthen their connection with the light side. Most parents love their children after all. I would advise allowing children to stay with their parents and learning the ways of the force after school and on weekends and perhaps special classes. I would also recommend allowing recruitment of adults. We need the manpower badly. There were over 20,000 Jedi at the beginning of the war, we are down to 3,000. They won't get as far and we will have to screen for emotional problems but they could be helpful."

Mace asks "What about forming attachments?"Obi Wan answers "The data I have suggests that attachments as long as they are positive strengthen not weaken your connection to the Light Side. After all love, friendship and joy strengthen your connection to the force as fear, anger and hate strengthen your ties to the Dark Side. The main danger seems over-protectiveness where the Jedi throws aside morals to protect the ones he loves. He needs to be reminded that his partner most likely would rather die than see him go over to the Dark Side. Most of the partners Jedi attach to are good people who worry about others and know how dangerous a dark jedi can be."

Mace says "These are major changes Master Kenobi, the council must look over all the data."Obi replies "Of course, I will leave the number of the holocrystal on your datapads. You can look at them whenever you wish."

A week later the Jedi reconvene and Obi Wan says "I assume you have all read them by now. Do you agree with my conclusions?" Yoda says "Your conclusions correct they seem. Rush this we can not however. Much change too quickly hurt the Jedi Order it will." Mace nods "Agreed, how to you propose to change things , Master Kenobi?"

Obi Wan replies " A number of Jedi seem to have formed attachments, including Anakin here. We might as well start with that and get them out in the open. Hidden attachments can only do more harm the good."Ahsoka smiles "Padme, correct?" Anakin answers "You knew?" While Ahsoka rolls her eyes Obi Wan replies "It was obvious you had some feelings for the senator although I didn't know you went as far as forming an attachment until now. That puts me in a bit of a dilemma, you did break the rules but we are changing them. I think demotion to padawan status for six months should do it. "

Ahsoka grins "So I will outrank him for six months, this will be fun! "Obi Wan replies "Don't get carried away Ahsoka. In any case I will have to demote a number of Jedi for six months as Anakin as far from the only one. As you heard Ahsoka has decided to rejoin our order as a Jedi Knight. My being picked as head of the order seems to have influenced it. She knows that I disagreed with the Council in turning her over to the tribunal. 'Ahsoka's Law' also helped, no longer can people be tried in front of a Senate Tribunal instead of the courts, including Jedi. They will be turned over to the regular court system instead. This would at least have slowed the process down enough that she wouldn't have had to be saved at the last second."

"I am glad you are back, Ahsoka. I am just glad Master Yoda and not you are my master. you might get back at me for the number of times I have given you a hard time." Anakin chuckles. Ahsoka grins "Don't worry even with Master Yoda around I will be able to get back at you." Anakin laughs "You always do, Ahsoka, you always do."

Obi Wan continues"The other thing I found while looking at the data is that bottling up emotions is dangerous for Jedi. They have a tendency to eventually lose their temper while using the force which , as we know, is very dangerous. However it seems that 'letting off steam' without using the force is helpful. It will have to be watched but doing things like sparring with a robot to get rid of all your pent up anger may help. Yelling, running and practically anything that lets pent up emotional energy out will help. The important thing is not to use the force while doing so. When used correctly it can act as a safety valve." Mace replies "We have to study a way to do this safely, Kenobi. So people are watched to make sure they don't forget themselves and use the dark side while doing so. We all know how tempting it is."

Obi answers "I know that all to well , we have to figure out a way to do so. Lastly we can start studying ways to set things up so we can recruit more widely. The force is a dangerous tool so children will still have to be watched even if they don't spend all their time in the temple and we have to set up procedures on how to train adults. Adults will be harder to train as children and probably will never make it as far but frankly we can use them even if they never make it past padawan. We need the numbers. This is all going to take us time and effort but I think the various reforms should help the Jedi greatly in the long run."

Obi Wan continues "Outside the reforms I bring other troubling news. The force appears to be weakening." Mace looks stunned for a moment and says "How is this possible?"

Obi Wan shakes his head and says "I don't know but the data is clear. Jedi are simply not as strong as they used to be. Anakin has the highest recorded midichlorian count and he would be no match for Exar Kun."Mace asks "That is troubling indeed. Do you think that the Sith is behind it?" Obi Wan says "No, if they were behind it they wouldn't have had to use this circuitous route. Palpatine could have just blown past us. It is something else. What it is I can not say" Yoda says seriously "Troubling news it is Kenobi. Ponder hard on this we need to. A more serious problem than even the Sith this may be. On this news you must act. Know what has become of the force we must. Much danger it could cause. Investigate this I will. "

Note: Anakin has been spooked from the revelation he was that close to falling to the dark side so he doesn't kick up a fuss over being demoted. He feels he has dodged a bullet and Yoda's influence has made him realize he deserves some punishment for the various things he did over the Clone Wars.


	7. Chapter 7

Bail Organa says "Welcome , Admiral Thrawn. We only authorized 12 grand admirals and you seem to be one of them. I have no record of you though." Thrawn replies "I was only recently promoted".

Bail says "I see , well the former chancellor seemed to like his secrets because it isn't in the records. In any case I am not going to hold the fact that the former chancellor was a Sith against you. He promoted people who were competent as well as those personally loyal to him. You will stay at your post as we can use every excellent officer we can . I am not a fool so I will have an eye kept an you, of course. I hope you aren't offended."

Thrawn answers "Understandable under the circumstances, I am only glad you retained me. I see you changed the artwork." Bail looks surprised at the comment which seemed to come out of nowhere "Why, yes. Are you interested in art, Admiral Thrawn?" Thrawn repies "Yes, very much so." Bail says "Well, I am interested myself in it and have a collection at home. I even have it shown on my vid site (OOC: I am using that word for website) as people seem to like it. Well, back to business"

 _I will have to see it some time thinks Thrawn. From what I see here is much more honest than the former Chancellor, quite intelligent, not at all gullible despite his honesty, likes to be underestimated , and has no bigotry against non-humans. He is going to be easier to work with than Palpatine. With him in command the Chiss Hegemony is likely to be protected. Unlike Palpatine he probably doesn't have to be manipulated to do that. Even with the recent revelation the Republic is the stronger of the two sides and will more likely win._

Thrawn replies "I have a report to make and I would like a member of the council to sit in because it concerns them too. I heard Obi Wan Kenobi is the new head of the order" Bail says "You heard correctly." He presses a button to contact the Jedi Temple. " Can you get Obi Wan over to my office as soon as possible? One of the grand admirals wants him to sit in a report." The droid replies "Yes, chancellor. He is at the library at the moment doing research and I can contact him right away. " Obi Wan comes on the screen "My droid says you want to see me. I will be there in 15 minutes."

Thrawn says "While we are waiting I will look at your art collection. I am sure it is interesting and it will give an idea who I am dealing with." Bail smiles "Certainly, admiral. I would be happy to discuss it with you the short time we are waiting."

Obi Wan coughs when he comes as the two men seem to be in deep conversation. _About Bail's art collection of all things. Well , I guess an admiral can be quite cultured they do get the education at the academy ._ Obi Wan thinks _._ "You two wanted to see me?" he queries. Thrawn answers " I have grave news, the Rakata have returned and with the full power of the Dark Side." Obi Wan looks stunned for a moment " The builders of the Star Forge? That is grave news indeed."

Thrawn answers "Yes, have you noticed the lessening of the power of the force? Even Anakin would be considered only moderately powerful in the times of the Old Republic and farther back." Obi Wan nods "Indeed, Anakin has the highest recorded midichlorian count and would be considered little more than tyro during the time of Exar Kun. Do you know the reason?"

Thrawn replies "Yes, with the literally billions of force users in the rising Infinite Empire they are using up the force faster than it is being created, which is how it fell the first time." Obi Wan looks shocked "Billions? How do we stop this evil? They are mostly Dark Side users if I recall and they don't turn on each other like the Sith."

Thrawn replies "Not all of them are Dark Side users by any means although the balance is definitely on the Dark Side. They are far away for now but they are growing, quickly. Their main weakness is that although the leadership isn't as backstabbing as the Sith they still tend to go against each other although more often with words than with lightsabers and they are widely hated by much of the populace. Once we put an end to this silly war we can get to the serious business of stopping this by turning them on each other. The former chancellor had me make a beginning of this even with the war on. He may have been a Sith but he wasn't thrilled with the idea of taking over the Republic to see it wind up in the hands of the Infinite Empire. He wanted to be in charge himself. "

Obi Wan looks troubled "I fear the former chancellor was right. We need to stop them as well. I would strongly advise you to allow him to continue his work there if it checks out. The builders are even worse than the Sith. I hope the Grand Admiral can help us end this civil war quickly." Bail nods in agreement. Thrawn replies "I will of course do my best, but Dooku isn't going to be overthrown quickly. He probably has the best military mind the Republic has seen since Revan. "

Obi Wan replies "Isn't that general Grievous?" Thrawn shakes his head "No, he is but a pawn of Dooku. Even the former chancellor was not that good in military matters. From what I can tell the former chancellor was not a military genius at all but relied only on sheer power and apparently treachery to win. Although I now know he was playing both sides it doesn't change the fact that he was a tyro when it came to military matters who rivaled Malek in military clumsiness. It is Dooku who is the genius and he won't be easy to defeat." _Even for me_ he thinks.

Obi Wan Kenobi returned to the Jedi Temple and told them of the grave news. "Disturbing it is, this news of the Rakata returning." Yoda says "Dangerous they are. Strong in the Dark Side they were. As divided as the Sith they were not. Still not as unified as the Jedi, are they. Ambitious they still are. Use this we can."

Mace replies "How can we face this evil? The Sith were bad enough, the Builders were worse. They were larger than even the largest Sith Empire and even more evil. "Yoda replies "Powerful they are yet full of deceit. There lies their weakness. Upon lies their government is built. Lie to other , lie to themselves they do. The truth shall hurt them. Without lies they are nothing. Turn on each other, they will if their lies are discovered and told. Seek out the truth behind their lies and there you will find their destruction."

Master Kenobi asks "What are those lies you are speaking of?" Yoda answers "That is for us to discover. Lies is what it was built on before and on lies it is built on now. I can feel it." Master Kenobi says "Well, I guess we will have to find out then. We will have to be careful and we have to win this war first. I feel we can not beat the Builders without beating the Sith . They may well team up." Mace answers "Indeed, that is what I fear. I doubt the alliance would last long but certainly long enough to destroy the Republic before they fell out which would be followed by a long, bloody war that would make the Clone War look like a playground fight in comparison."

Obi Wan says "Thrawn seems the key to this. I felt Thrawn's presence when I was in the room with him. You can't avoid feeling it , when he enters a room he seems to command attention. I feel he will possibly be a great asset to us or a great liability. For now I sense he is on our side. He is highly intelligent, very charismatic, and competent but he is also deceptive. He needs to be watched but I feel he could be very, very useful."

Mace answers "When you said you felt his presence do you mean through the force or did you just mean he had a commanding presence."  
Obi Wan responds "The latter, when he enters a room he seems to fill it if you know what I mean. There is no way not to notice him."Yoda says "Hmm, caught between dark and light Thrawn is. Dangerous he is. Useful he may be. "

Obi Wan responds "Yes, well we will keep an eye on him but we will use him. He wants the Clone War ended and quickly . That much I can sense from him. Moving on I have a holo from Dothomir. Recognize anyone?" Ahsoka says "That's Barris and isn't that Maul she is fighting? Who is the old woman in the background?"

Obi Wan answers "Mother Talzin, she is the head of a group of witches known as the Night Sisters. Yes. Barris escaped a month ago, apparently with Count Dooku's help. She seems to be his new apprentice. Maul has a grudge against Dooku as he replaced him as Palpatine's apprentice. Also the only way Maul can be the new master is to kill the old one which is now Dooku. Also Palpatine killed Savage and he probably blames me or Dooku for that. Sith tend to blame those who they hate the most rather than themselves when things happen to them. My guess he switches between me and Dooku as the one to blame. "

Mace says "From your earlier descriptions , Maul is little more than an animal and Dooku is the real threat." Obi Wan replies "Agreed, for all his prowess in fighting there seems to be no one home upstairs. I wouldn't trust him running a nerf burger stand let alone an empire. The brightest idea he could come up with is to become a mob boss. A Sith is capable of much more than that." Mace replies "Agreed , we must focus on Dooku first. Hopefully Maul can at least distract Dooku. With luck that may give us out chance."

Note: I don't like the Vong so have gotten rid of them. Dooku is more militarily competent in this story than is apparent in the movies/ Clone Wars cartoon and actually is something of a match for Trawn. It isn't called Dooku the Magnificent for nothing.


	8. Chapter 8

Bail Organa met Mon Mothma in his office "I have news you want to hear and some news you don't want to hear." Mon Mothma "Start with the good news , it might soften the blow of the bad."

Bail says " I have gotten enough information from Gunray and the former chancellor's files to not only kick the Trade Federation out of the Galactic Senate but to break them up. For allowing their prison sentence be served on Asis IV I had enough of them give up their shares to the Republic that we took it over." Mon Mothma replies "By the force, Bail you aren't going to keep it. We don't want a repeat of the Kybern period."

Bail shakes his head "No, of course not but we overreacted the other way. Instead of the government trying to control the entire economy it is trying to control none of it and has turned into a plutocracy. What I am going to do is break it up into several hundred pieces and sell them off in the next couple of years. The Republic could use the money."

Mon Mothma answers "While Nute and company get to stay in the softest prison planet in the galaxy." Bail shrugs "It was either that or it drags on through the courts for the next several years and the Separatists might win the war before we could get the money, which doesn't do us very good. I don't like it myself but it was the best I can do. We need the money now and they would fight in court forever if I insisted they go into some harsh prison planet. Think of it this way , it might be soft for a prison but it is a big step down for them. "

Mon Mothma sighs "True, and we do need the money. I won't kick up a fuss over it but I don't like them getting such soft treatment. However that is less important than kicking them out of the senate and breaking them up." Bail replies "Which is why I did it. I would rather have them pay more for their crimes but we don't have the luxury of time."

Mon Mothma asks "So what is the bad news?" Bail winces "I will have to authorize the funding of more clones." Mon Mothma shouts "What? You were always opposed in the past why change now?" Bail winces "Because I wasn't the chancellor before. As chancellor it is my responsibility not to be the last one. I don't like it more than you do but we need them." Mon Mothma "What is it your not telling me?" Bail says softly "At the moment we are losing this war." Mon Mothama's eyes widen "Really, how can this be? We still have more planets than they do." Bail says "Yes, but we are losing them quickly. Palpatine's betrayal has seriously effected morale in our forces. The clones have proven they are the ones we can count on the most. I think morale will recover but I am not sure how long it will take and I fear we are in for a a long war." Mon Mothma says quietly "Things are more serious than I ever imagined. I have to think on this , Bail."

"I also have a few reforms in mind. For one thing I think we need to test all future chancellors for having a high midichlorian count. Anyone who has too high a midichlorian count can't be chancellor. It will start with myself. I will take the test tomorrow. I know I don't have force powers but it will keep any talk of me being the new Sith Lord commanding the Republic at bay. " Bail continues"Oh good idea, I will propose that right away. What else?" she replies. "Take the banking clans away from the hands of the chancellor to an independent government agency. Also I would have clones serve only 4 years in the service before being trained in any profession of their choice for 2 years. They can then either resign up or go into the new profession. This gives them more options in the long run and once this war is over something to do. I would also request other gene samples other than Jango's Fett's be used and not just human DNA. One thing I am worried about it that the fact that human clones are doing most of the hard fighting is strengthening a pro-human bias in the Republic." says Bail.

"Well , you count on me for that. The banking reform takes away power from the chancellor but does not risk the Republic's funding be held hostage to the banking clans. I also am worried about the clones and the creeping pro-human bias in the Republic." Mon Mothma answers.

Grand Admiral Thrawn was in a fine mood. He convinced the chancellor to back the funding of the new clones. The war wasn't going as bad as he made out but the extra clones would make it less bloody in the long run. He would need them for the Rakata if not for Dooku in the long run. Dooku was going to be a challenge. He had no doubt of that. He was confident that he would beat him eventually but it would take time.

One of the keys to beating him might well be Darth Maul. He was an idiot but he was also a Sith Lord and controlled a crime syndicate that had a fair amount of firepower. They lacked discipline , unit cohesion, logistical capacity and training but they did have numbers and some high powered weaponry. Rabble to be sure, but useful rabble. With the right subtle backing they could at least distract Dooku. He had some agents that could help. Not clones, of course, they were too recognizable and too unsubtle but there was a lot of military personal that weren't clones.

He had a number of contacts himself in the underworld and with a decent supply of credits he could give "sign up bonuses" to those willing to hook up with Maul. Send some the scum his way and kill two birds with one stone. Maul would have a large number of recruits coming in to throw at Dooku and the Republic would see its crime rate drop as its criminal scum are killed off by Dooku's forces. Maul would never be a threat to the Republic or the Confederacy as a whole , he was far too stupid but Dooku was and he needed to be distracted a bit. Maul would be that distraction.

Count Dooku was sitting behind his desk thinking. The war was stabilizing which is the one thing he didn't want. He gained 500 systems the week he assassinated Palpatine but only another 500 systems were gained in the three weeks after it with only 50 in the last week. Things were definitely slowing down. The Republic was recovering from the shock and its troops morale was increasing again.

The "Kenobi Reforms" were well thought out and he thought helped reassure Republic citizens. For one thing it was a reform and at the moment almost any reform would have people rallying to it. For another it would boost the number of Jedi and also link the public closer to them. There always has been resentment of Jedi seclusion and the fact they took only infants raised suspicions of brainwashing. That Sith inspired "reform" millennia ago was of great value to the Sith. Now Kenobi got rid of it at a stroke of a pen. Allowing Jedi have monitored relationships not only calmed some of the Jedi it also bound their order to whomever they had a relationship with.

Kenobi must be even smarter and more subtle than he thought. He knew Kenobi was no fool but he didn't know he was as clever as all thought. He always thought of Obi Wan as a conservative if not a reactionary. A good man and clever but not a bold thinker.

Barris would arrive soon and he had to punish her for her failure. He always treated he a bit differently than he did Savage. Savage was little more than an animal, of even less worth than Maul. All he wanted him for is as a bodyguard or assassin. True, with his help Savage could have helped him overthrow Palpatine but only as one piece of the puzzle. He would have had to have been one more distraction for Palpatine allowing Dooku to finish him off. He gave thought to the matter before Palpatine killed him. Dooku was not surprised Savage was not even a quarter trained and even if he were fully trained he would have needed a bigger distraction than just Maul to beat Palpatine. With the right timing Savage could beat Palpatine with his own backing but it would be tricky. He was planning to use Ventriss but Palpatine noticed her growing strength in the force and he had to kill her. With Savage he could use his strength and speed to help defeat Palpatine. He would almost certainly die before Dooku could get his final shot in but that was fine with Dooku as Savage was completely expendable, unlike Ventriss. She was just about ready to pit against Palpatine when she was killed, what a waste. It couldn't be helped as he was not yet ready to overthrow Palpatine and become the true Lord of the Sith.

Barris finally arrived and he glowered at her "You have failed me. How can you have lost against the likes of Maul? He is a fool." She stammers "H-he had help, master . From one of the witches of Dothomir." "You must learn to use your passion!" and zaps her with force lightning "Use your anger and hatred of the corrupt Republic to strike down your enemies." and zaps her again. "Remember, my apprentice. There is no peace there only passion. The Jedi are afraid to use their passion to fuel their powers we do not." and zaps her once more "Through passion I gain strength. The Dark Side of the force adds to your strength. Only through the power of the Dark Side can you fufill your true potential. Through strength I gain power, only the strong deserve power and with this power we will give peace and order to the galaxy. Through power I gain victory. A victory not seized through power is no victory at all, it is lost the moment your opponent is willing to use force to snatch away your victory. Through victory my chains are broken. As the victor you write the rules. There are no rules for the Dark Lord of the Sith. He is above the law and is indeed the law. The chains of law do not apply to him. The force will free me, only one strong in the force is free. All others are fit only to be ruled. They needed to be guided by their betters. Being blind to the force they can not guide it or be guided by it . They are ignorant in the end no matter how intelligent they seem."

Barris shakes off the effects of the lightning "Yes, master. I will eventually gain enough power through the force to take down Maul and his apprentice, I swear it." Dooku nods "Very well, i will have learn more of this apprentice so you are better prepared next time. Now go!" She bows and says "Yes, master" and leaves.

OOC: Basically the Kybern Period is one I made up to explain the strongly libertarian economic policy the Republic seems to have. Basically I picture it as a quasi-Marxist period that blew up as bad or worse than the blowup of the Soviet Empire in the 1990's. The "current period" was caused by an overreaction to that. So basically the Republic went from a strictly "Marxist" to an "Ann Rand" approach somehow missing the middle. That explains why even in a galaxy where corporations have seats in the senate and legal private armies you still have systems break away over too much central control.


	9. Chapter 9

General Grevious was pounding the Republic forces to pieces. They were outnumbered 10:4 and two of them were badly damaged. "Intensify all forward lasers, drop shields fifty percent and fire! It is time to finish them off. They will never escape now. Bye Bye Republic scum!" and gives a most evil chuckle."General, we have Republic cruisers dropping out of hyperspace." says the battle droid on the sensors.

3 cruisers dropped in from the right , the left and behind. He was now outnumbered 13:10 and outflanked with shields at half power. "Retreat, we are outflanked and outgunned. 2 of his ships were quickly badly damaged with their weakened shields. "All units fire on the damaged ships and raise shields to full power." on the com to the other ships. He wasn't going to be caught out here himself but he would allow others to die in his place while he escaped. "Power down all weapons and boost the engines and shields fifty percent . We have to get out of here! Enter hyperspace as soon as possible" His ship suddenly goes "up" away from most of the fighting with the Republic ships trying to cut him off.

"Where to , General?" said the droid at the navicomputer "Anywhere! Make it Osariaous VI" Grevious replied"Isn't that where we -" the droid replies"Are you questioning my orders? Just do it!" Grevious said"Roger, roger. We will be ready to enter hyperspace in 30 seconds." the droid answers.

Turbolaser blasts hit the generals ship and the the shields start buckling under the pressure losing half its turbolasers but otherwise unharmed. It then enters hyperspace and vanishes. The Republic cruisers keep pounding on the Seperatists ships with the two damaged ships going into hyperspace. The Confederacy were surrounded and outnumbered but fought grimly on. The two badly damaged ships were destroyed soon after the general left. After a while one by one they vanished into hyperspace losing 5 ships in all with the remaining five badly damaged.

"It was as you called it Grand Admiral Thrawn, he pulled out and left the other ships behind to die. " a clone named Blazer said."Indeed, Grievous is a cowardly bully. As soon as the battle went against him he fled leaving the others to die. He cares for nothing but himself. He has no great plans, no purpose , no drive but prove himself superior to the Jedi even though he doesn't have force powers. He is jealous, cowardly and sadistic. I have spent time studying his past battles. He tends to be over aggressive but flees the moment things go wrong. He is by no means stupid, however. His plans can be well thought out and intricate. When they go right he can do considerable damage. He wasn't made their top general for no reason. However when things go against him he is quick to panic and retreat. He has been in more than one battle where he could have won if he kept his nerve. He never displays the courage you clonetroopers display on a daily basis. Send my congratulations to the ship captains, their timing was near perfect. " Grand Admiral Thrawn replies.

Blazer smiles "Yes, sir. Message sent. I have thought that he was a cowardly sadist myself, sir. I was on Fanin II with the 201st against General Grievous and we were being pushed back until Skywalker showed up with the 501st on his left flank. He just took off running when he heard that. He should have been able to make at least a fighting retreat but he simply ran. True, he was outnumbered and outflanked but with a fighting retreat he could have saved some of his men. He might have even been able to regroup with his troops 3 miles away and made a real fight of it. They weren't all droids by any means. He had some Wequary and Trandoshian with him. Apparently they were mercenaries hired by Grievous for the operation. The coward simply ran off while his men died all around him. I also agree with you on the sadism sir. In more than one place we conquered the natives were treated to brutality that seemed more to do with sadism than anything else. He seems to enjoy inflicting pain. It cost the Confederacy more than once. Beings formerly neutral in the war coming to the side of the Republic because they wanted vengence against Grievous. "

" He does indeed enjoy inflicting pain for little purpose. He is quite a sick individual who I will enjoy removing from the galaxy. I admit he wasn't going to save this battle but if he stood and fought the Confederacy wouldn't have lost half their ships. The ones that did survive will be in the docks for at least 3 months and we regained a star system. It is mostly due to his sheer cowardice. If he fought on for a while he could have saved some damage on the other ships. Well you can say you were part of the first offensive victory since the Chancellor's death." says Thrawn."I am glad to have lived to see it, sir." Blazer replies Thrawn smiles "So am I, captain. So am I."

General Grievous came out of hyperdrive almost whole and gives another evil chuckle "See, what did I tell you? We got away with little loss to our ship.""Republic fighters approaching our position, sir. Three wings in all." says a battle droid at the scanners"What?!" Grievous shouts back"I tried to warn you, sir. Osariaous VI was made into a Republic fighter base 2 months ago. We found out about it a week ago. " the battle droid replied.

"Deploy fighters , double forward shields and plot a course to Oras V" he cries."We can activate the hyperdrive in 30 seconds"Republic fighters shoot down half of Grevious droid fighters and wipe out half his weapons before he is able to get away. His shields are half down and his engines are damaged. His ship the Eradicator will need to be in space dock for 6 months.

"You have an incoming message from Count Dooku, general" said a battle droid."I better hear it" he replies."General , I am most disappointed in your failure. Not only did you lose but you lost half your ships in the process without destroying a single enemy ship. There isn't even a single Republic Cruiser destroyed to lessen the impact of your failure. " says Count Dooku"I can explain, count" Grievous replies."Can you explain why you seem to immediately bolt to safety the moment the tide turns against you?" he continues. "I have noticed this before, you retreat too quickly and when you do you seem to be more concerned of your own safety than the survival of your ships. Cruisers and battle droids cost money, general and you seem to forget that. Maybe I should find a general with a bit more boldness."

"Part of this failure is because you also tend to get too arrogant when winning. You were suckered into this position because you didn't stop to think if it was a trap. The Republic is recovering their morale and with your failure it will it will grow more. I am most displeased with this failure. It is one thing to lose a battle , it is another to lose so badly that the enemy is barely effected by you. Indeed they won a great victory. Your failure is such they will no doubt show it all through the galaxy. This wasn't just a failure but a one sided affair. If this isn't changed soon I fear you will have to be replaced with someone with more vision and boldness." the count threatens.

"I will avenge this loss as soon as possible Count. I will soon have a new plan formulated that the Republic can't easily counter." Grevious replies."I hope so, it would be tiresome to have to train your replacement. You might be made into a test subject before you die to mitigate your failure a bit. " and switches off.

Barris says to him "Is he that close to be relieved or were you just putting a scare into him, master?""In the end Grievous is quite expendable, my young apprentice. For all his skill he lacks courage and that is an important lack. Learn from this , apprentice. A Sith knows no fear. For that reason alone Grievous would never make it as a Sith." Dooku responds. "If he doesn't show more backbone in the future I will replace him. There a few generals on our staff that have less skill but more boldness. A good general does not flee at the first sign of failure. He should have at least tried a fighting retreat instead of escaping into hyperspace the moment things turned against him. At the very least he might not have lost as many ships, he might have even finished off the two badly damaged enemy ships before he let. It has been most disappointing. In the end if Grievous doesn't find some courage he will not be in a top spot in the New Order. There is no room for cowards at the top. "


	10. Chapter 10

General Grievous was sitting in his command seat think _Now it begins, things will turn around here. Dooku will be impressed with the boldness of this plan._ He calls Admiral Hahn of the Trade Federation. "Be ready to start the operation at my command." Admiral Hahn answers "I will be ready when you are general"

Down on Altan III Captain Ron looked at the oncoming ship. "It looks like a big invasion , boys. You better get ready. I wonder why they are so light in cruisers and heavy in transports. Seems strange." Trooper 12311-33355 known as Blinker said "I don't know , Captain and that is a fact. The Seppies rarely make that big of a mistake , they are up to something. I only wish I knew what it was."

General Grievous says "Begin Operation Lark"Hahn answers "As you command" and presses a button. Instead of landing craft wave after wave of droid fighters come out of the cargo holds. The Republic is taken completely by surprise. Their fighters are outnumbered 7:1. The fighters target the opposing cruisers first, zeroing in on their hyperdrives and shield generators first to make sure they can't escape. The New Hope is a flaming wreck. The Tattooine Sunrise makes the jump into hyperspace.

Captain Tael of the Tattooine Sunrise says "The hyperdrive was damaged so the navicomputer miscalculated and we are being pulled in by that blue giant. Pull up, pull up" The pilot quickly dropped his shields and weapons putting all its power into the engines. It was no use, the ship had too much momentum. He saw the screen fill with the light of the star before all went dark. That was the risk when the navicomp miscalculated. Unless calculated precisely a ship tended to drop out of hyperspace close to the nearest large mass. That is why ships didn't hyper out at random when they were in trouble. It almost always ended in death.

After the defending cruisers were destroyed they started in on the station. The station was heavily fortified and had many anti-fighter lasers along with big anti-capital ship ones. The anti-fighter lasers took out scores of fighters but went down one by one. The big lasers fired at the now empty transports Grievous lost 2 of them along with a cruisers before all the guns were knocked out. With the guns down the whole station was vulnerable and the waves of ship just ate holes in the station while the big cruisers added to their fire. Soon the station was blown out of space. Nothing but debris was left after 15 minutes of bombardment.

News of the disaster reached the Republic, it took a lot of the joy of the previous victory away even though the result was less one sided. The Republic lost 121 fighters , 6 cruisers and a repair base while the Confederacy lost 200 fighters, 2 transports and a cruiser. The repair base was a crippling loss for the Republic. The next repair base was 175 pasecs away and when you need to repair your ships every moment counts. Worse yet that station was already full with ships needing repairs and would need more expansion. The Republic military figured they needed to build another supply base close by to supply the expanded base. It would take 3 to 6 months for that sector to be stabilized.

Count Dooku contacted General Grievous and said " I am pleased with the last with your last victory. It should shake the Republic's resolve . Your dealt a crippling blow to the Republic and the Jedi. This is what you can do when you are properly motivated. Follow it up with further blows as quickly as possible. We can't allow the Republic to recover. They are still larger than us."

Grievous replies "Yes, Count Dooku. I shall follow up my victory as soon as possible. It will take a couple weeks as I lost a few more fighters and less cruisers than I expected to. I also weakened the Republic more than I thought I would. They had a couple of more cruisers there than I was led to believe. "

Count Dooku replies "Very well, although promptness is needed being too hasty could spoil everything. Proceed as you wish."Grievous replies "Yes, Count Dooku . You can rely on me."Count Dooku responds "I hope so, this battle may have relieved some of my doubt of your fitness for commanding my armies but not all of it. Only further victories will do that."Grievous says "Don't worry , Count. I will have it all planned out."

Ione was standing on the side of Maul thinking _I am surprised he is getting all these reprobates. I wouldn't think he could draw flies with honey. He has no brains, no real plans , no grand vision just pillage and loot. The galaxy seems to have an endless supply of idiots. They seem eager enough to throw themselves into battle just to be able to plunder and rape. Four of these bozos tried raping me. That just shows what kind of idiots these people are. I am a witch of Dothomir. What did they think would happen?_ she smiles at the thought. She commanded one to stab himself. She slammed another one against the wall splatting him, force push being one of the Sith powers he taught her. She made two who tried jumping her at once believe the other guy was an enemy charging him and they hacked themselves apart and she stabbed the winner with her lightsaber when he crawled away.

Yet it was true, there were hundreds of thousands of them flocking to his call. It was like somebody was emptying out the Republic prisons so Maul could send them off to die. She chuckled at the thought. Well, die they did and in large numbers. They had little training, poor discipline and no unit cohesion. Professional troops tended to make mincemeat out of them. However whenever Maul landed it was not only with these reprobates but also with Mandalorian troops.

Death Watch greatly expanded in the last year with many Mandalorians regaining their heritage. However, it was not as many as Maul hoped. There were many who did but the majority did not. They wanted to get away from their war torn past. The endless wars that cost Mandalore so many lives. The most eager to fight were the ones that left the planet of course. She worried that if too many of them left the planet there would be a revolt. She heard rumbling of people who were talked about rebelling either to get rid of the criminal scum that were now infesting the planet and some who figured even a civil war was preferable to the endless number of wars this could be the start of if things kept going on this way. She could understand that. Unlike the Sith the Witches were not into endless war. They preferred manipulation to combat. They were more than able to fight when need be but never went out into the galaxy to conquer it. Better to remain at home with your sisters. That is much safer and thus much wiser.

On the other hand that led to possibilities. If she tired of Maul or the risk of Rebellion got too great she would simply defect to the rebels. It would be easy enough. Maul was the public face to the people. She always acted servile around Maul in public. It flattered his ego and separated her from his policies. To all appearances she was just Maul's plaything. No doubt most of the population that she was a sex slave or bordered on it. That didn't matter. She didn't care what the bumpkins thought. If it gained her power in the long run it was worth some humiliation in the short. Maul was easier to manipulate when he thought he was in charge. Manipulate him she did, any time he thought of dealing with the Republic first she guided him back to Dooku. After all he couldn't claim to be the true Dark Lord of the Sith if Dooku were still alive, could he?

The pattern was mostly the same he would load up a bunch of pirate ships with criminal scum and Mandalorians to land on a planet and demand that they surrender to the new Mandelorian Empire. If they did he would levy tribute on them and draft their people and seize some of their ships so they could loot and plunder elsewhere. If they didn't he would attack. He would let the criminal scum lead off the attack raping and pillaging on the way. Once they lost about half their members he unleashed the Mandelorains on them . By the time the Mandelorians attacked the number of enemy were thinned and the rest mostly tired which made it easier for the Mandelorians . He also had them take out the key sites as the Mandelorians wanted and needed a challenge as well as easy pickings.

It was a good mix of missions she admitted which is why she suggested it to Maul. Later she claimed it was his idea. It made him even easier to manipulate and went with her policy of distancing herself a bit from Maul in the public's eye just in case. It kept the morale and numbers high. The occasional challenge allowed them to boast about their triumphs while the more often easy battles kept their numbers. As far as the criminal scum was concerned they were more expendable than battle droids so who cared if they died? Of course most of the casualties were wounded instead of dead and were treated. If half of them died in each battle even these idiots wouldn't go in. Still about a fifth died in every battle but their numbers were constantly replenished so it was often difficult for it to be noticed. Once the planet was taken the planet was garrisoned by the draftees. It was usually easy duty for them as the populace preferred them to the criminals that would come back if they rebelled.

Should she kill him now? Not yet she decided. Not until he conquered more territory, not until the people were utterly sick of him, not until he taught her how to fight better. Only after that would he die. She decided the best way would be to start or join a rebellion. Play the poor innocent victim who was enslaved by Maul to get the masses on her side. After that she would rule, strictly but fairly. The people would have to obey her but they wouldn't have to suffer the chaos that surrounded Maul. She would be far less arbitrary and far more dignified. They would be no more free than under Maul but they would be safer.


	11. Chapter 11

Maul was thinking . His plans were working better than he thought they would. He knew he wasn't the sharpest knife in the drawer but he wasn't as dumb as people thought. He seemed to be getting an almost unending stream of criminals to sign up so he must be doing something right. They weren't the best troops in the galaxy, he knew that. However the were very expendable. He instituted the 25% rule. In the first battle he picked the four best fighters he could find and made them his generals. In every battle since he picked four more. They weren't picked mostly for their shooting ability but for their cunning, he knew enough about war to know that. After each battle they would pick 25% of their men for training. Those who made it got 3 months training, the top 25% of them got another 3 months, which went two more deep which meant around the top 0.4% had a whole year's training by the Mandalorians. That would make them slightly better than regular troops as there were some things they didn't need to be taught going in like shooting and how to clean a rifle. The newbies and the 75% that didn't make the cut were to be sent in the first wave. The 21% that had 3 months training would be the second wave while the rest would be placed where the generals thought it was the most likely for them to break through. They would be thrown at the weakest point of the lines at their officer's discretion. He even was able to entice some Republic officers to defect to his side for very high pay, of course. They commanded 30 times or more money than the fodder troops but well worth the expense. They were excellent advisers.

Behind the lines he was raising armies in the conquered territories. They would start with a year's training. Ordinary citizens should be able to learn discipline easier than a bunch of criminals. The better ones would be given more training than that. The least gifted would serve as garrisons on other planets while the rest would serve as regulars. They were less expendable than the criminal scum and get more support. The first wave which was to be entirely made up of criminals as noted above would only get light vehicles for support such as speeders and light hovercraft with some air cover. The second wave made up of the more elite criminals and regulars would have more light vehicles than the first wave plus tanks, they would also provide artillery cover for the first and second wave. They would also get more air cover and bomber support as well. But this was in the future , the first group of criminals being trained weren't even halfway through their training. The first of the regular citizens were just in the process of being recruited.

He thought about Ione. She seemed awfully subservient for a witch. No doubt his great charm and good looks were responsible. The good thing about it was that everyone knew he was in charge. No one could doubt that he and he alone was the one in power. She was so taken in by him that he could do anything he wanted with her and so he did so. He smiled at the thought in remembrance.

Count Dooku was thinking himself. Maul was giving him more trouble than he thought possible. He seemed to have an endless supply of criminal goons. He was surprised at this. He didn't think he had the ability to raise that many troops. He must have underestimated Maul. Still the true power in the Mandalorian Empire was Ione. He was sure of it. She was the true power behind the throne. She was flattering his ego and must be pulling his strings behind closed doors. He had a number of spies infiltrating Maul's Army. He instructed them to keep their distance and just make observations. What they observed was interesting, the vast majority of ideas that Maul came up with didn't surprise her. One of them did however. The idea of siphoning off the best of the criminals for training seemed to genuinely surprise her. It was a good idea at that. Let the enemy wear themselves out against the fodder troops and then when the regulars hit they would be tired and running out of power packs. The regulars would no doubt be hitting the weak points of the line which the fodder troops identified or made. This took more brains than Dooku thought he had. For the first time he wondered how much he was underestimating Maul.

One thing he knew and that was Maul was completely without capital ships. There was no sign whatsoever of them. Not unexpected when you are just using pirates for your ships. Some heavy ships should give him a headache. He hated to do this but he decided to divert 5 cruisers going to the front line to attack Maul's forces. Better to smash him now before he could retool his spacedocks to make capital ships. It would take several years to do that but he could make frigates before that and that would complicate things. Enough of them could close in and destroy cruisers when there were enough of them. He would send the order right away.

Thrawn was smiling, so far everything was going as planned. He had his men infiltrate Maul's organization as "advisers" for a hefty salary. He was uninterested in what Maul was paying them as he said they could soak Maul for everything they could get and keep it as bonus pay on top of their ordinary salary. This would prevent them from being tempted to defect for real. Why really defect when you could keep the bribe and get Republic pay on top of it? He was a bit more clever than Thrawn thought at first. He was no genius to be certain but not entirely without wit. His men said he could keep up with the basics. He was becoming a bit more clever with his flanking maneuvers. They were still a bit close in but he was improving. His men were beginning to shore up his defenses. There were signs Maul was drawing Dooku's attention at last. As a bonus the violent thugs that were getting out of prison he sent Maul's way helped thin out the criminal element in the Republic. The crime rate was falling on some of the smaller planets as their criminal element was sent off to die.

Sitting at the command center Maul watches the first wave attack. For the most part the attack is disorganized and chaotic. That was fine with him. The only thing the first wave was supposed to accomplish was wear out its opponent before the better troops arrive. He noted a few groups here and there that had more order and discipline. He noted the group and if they survived that would become part of the 25%. A group of speeders he had under his command looked like it was doing better than the others. Instead of plowing into the groups as if they were tanks they were skirmishing on the fringes. A group of Weequay seemed to be acting as a unit . He took notice at that as well. The enemy's left flank was wavering . He ordered some speeder bikes to flank that location and had his artillery zero in on the flank. The flank collapsed at once and speeders hit their rear as well. To his disappointment the enemy commander was able to make a new line and had his troops fall back to it.

Al Shad was in the fight of his life. The enemy was pretty undisciplined but there were so many of them. They just kept coming. They were dying by the scores and then by hundreds at this location but still they kept coming. He ordered his men to plug a hole in the line. Blaster fire was coming from everywhere. The enemy was losing 2 or 3 men for everyone they dished out but since they outnumbered him at least four to one it didn't matter to them. A group of speeders were coming at them but they were coming instupid. Unless a man used the speed advantage properly a man on a speeder was just a bigger target. They were higher up and the people driving them too cocky to pay attention and so it proved . Six speeders came and six got shot to pieces for their trouble.

Maul not the idiots on the speeders, of course. There was no missing the bozos. Maul was unconcerned and in fact was more upset about the loss of the speeders more than the loss of the men. The men proved themselves expendable. The line was starting to waver and it was now time to unleash the Mandalorians . He would lead the attack himself. They would soon learn the terror of facing a Sith Lord.

The Mandalorians fell on the like a pack of wolves on a bunch of rabbits. As there were no Jedi, no elite troops or much of anything else Maul met no one who could match his skills or even come close . Man after man fell to his blade. The Mandalorians were well armored and well armed. Their armor absorbed most of the blaster fire. Once in a while one of them would fall after a number of blaster bolts weakened enough of their armor for the shots to get through. Those deaths he didn't laugh off. They were his elite troops and not easy to replace. Still they did what he asked of them . The broke through the line and routed the enemy. This was the main army of this lightly settled planet . He was sure it would fall by the next day.

In the nearby system of Alpus III battle was raging in space. Dooku's cruisers entered the system and were engaging the space dock. It was more heavily armed and armored than they were led to believe and there were two battle stations behind it that intelligence missed. There was a deadly conflict going on between the two sides. The stations had better protection and weaponry while the cruisers had mobility. It was a long and bloody battle, hundreds of fighters from both sides were being blown into space dust while huge holes were being shot into the space station and cruisers. Both were losing weapons and power and shields.

Suddenly five frigates dropped out of hyperspace behind the cruisers. The cruisers were thrown into confusions. The frigates would have been no match for the cruisers at the beginning of the battle but now they were badly damaged while the frigates were fresh. The frigates also launched their fighters on the cruisers depleted forces. Dooku's fighters were completely wiped out by their opponents as they were getting hit from all sides. They were being hit by the station's anti-fighter blasters, by the frigates' anti-fighter blasters and by both sets of fighters. The frigates then closed in on the doomed cruisers and blew them to atoms.

Count Dooku was in shock after he heard the news. Five cruisers of the Confederacy destroyed by fringe scum? Impossible! However it was also true. Maul must be better armed than he thought. Also the advisers he bribed must be very good. He would know better next time . He would send a fleet of 20 next time. That should be more than a match for Maul's forces.


	12. Chapter 12

Dooku's second invasion was more professional than the first. The first time he sent five ships with a newly minted comodore and five recently promoted captains as he had nothing but disdain for Maul. This time he sent in 20 cruisers and 40 frigates divided into two fleets. The rear admiral was promoted six months ago after the Battle of Genon II. The four commodores also were promoted at least six months ago and had several fights as comodores. The captains had a few fights under their belts as well. These weren't his best senior officers but all in all a considerably more professional outfit. He let them know that promotions were likely if they had a successful campaign.

The jump in quality and the increase in numbers told the story in the upcoming battle. Over Actus Prime the 10 cruisers pounded the space dock and battle stations to scrap without losing a single cruiser. The Confederacy lost 1 frigate and 150 fighters to the Mandalorian Empire's 4 frigates, 250 fighters, a space dock and 2 battle stations. Over Yalin V the story was similar if a little less one sided. In that case they lost a crusier, 3 frigates and 250 fighters to the Mandalorians 5 frigates, 200 fighters and the space facilities. Considering the resources at the disposal of the Confederacy it was a bigger disaster for the Mandalorian Empire than the raw numbers implied. Dooku could afford losing cruisers much more than Maul could frigates and lose frigates more than Maul could lose fighters, the numbers were that bad.

On the ground things were bad for the Mandalorian Empire as well. Dooku landed thousands of battle droids and a couple hundred super battle droids. It was a massacre . Unlike the clones even the normal battle droids were an more than a match for Maul's troops. His troops simply did not have the training to deal with it. The criminals might have had more ingenuity than the droids, although that wasn't a given with many of them but they had lousy unit cohesion, poor discipline, no training and and only a few with armor. For all their lack of ingenuity the battle droids were certain to follow orders to the letter and would fight until destroyed as they were programmed to. The criminals wouldn't hesitate to question orders not to their liking and would flee when taking too many casualties.

Almost as important was the fact that the locals welcomed the droid army. They might be cold blooded but they weren't sadistic. Unless order to by their superiors they didn't kill those who didn't resist them, or sack towns or rape the inhabitants. Because of this they got very good intelligence from the locals. More than once battle droids got the drop on Maul's thugs because aggrieved citizens told the droids exactly where they were hiding. This was a new experience for the battle droids who were usually treated with either indifference or fear depending on the circumstances.

Rear Admiral Yanz contacted Count Dooku. "We have captured the two planets as ordered with minimal casualties. Along with the casualties from the space battle you can add 1,550 battle droids and 25 super battle droids. The enemy has suffered at least an estimated 23,000 casualties"

The count smiles "Good, good. Excellent, in fact, that was less than I expected." The Admiral replied "The locals have been of great help. Due to the hatred of the criminal scum Maul recruited we have been getting good intelligence. A big weakness when you depend on criminals for your troops, A weakness we shall exploit. "

The count nods "Keep a low profile then, we want to encourage such behavior in the future. Although we will levy normal taxes don't institute a draft for now. That can wait until later. Leave enough droids to maintain order but don't institute a curfew or take any other extraordinary measures. We want to make it clear to the inhabitants that we are better than the criminal scum we defeated." _We will leave the iron fist for later . This way we can leave lighter garrisons so we can throw more droids at the Republic he thought._ Admiral Yanz responds "I quite agree, Count Dooku and was going to suggest that myself. These locals are going to be easy to police now we got rid of the thugs, rapists and looters that ran this place before now." Dooku says "Carry on Admiral, I await news of your further conquests eagerly."

Maul was quite upset. After the easy victories he had seen a lot of his fleet was wrecked. Not all by any means but enough of them to be considerably weakened and he barely effected Dooku. The ground force losses were far less serious. Twenty thousand men more or less made little difference since none were Mandalorian. He was glad he those away from the front lines at the moment as he was gathering them for his next strike. That was a bit a luck for him , wasn't it? He could not beat Dooku in a straight up fight, he knew that. The Count was throwing the resources of a large, well developed , greatly militarized confederacy against his small, poorly developed , only slightly militarized empire. There is no way to win a straight up fight when they odds were that great against you. However he wasn't planning on a straight up fight. His first group of trained criminals just came out of their 3 months of training. Those who weren't going to go further in their training would be the ones implementing his new plan. He expected to create a lot of chaos behind Dooku's lines. They might not be the best trained, most disciplined troops out there but they did know how to spread chaos. Now was the time to see them in action.

Three men were scoping out the depot at night . One of them quick blasts four battle droid patrolling the outside via sniper rifle . Another crawls near by and then throws a droid popper to take out the two droids guarding the entrance. The handful of employees inside at night are quickly disposed of. They plant some explosives all over the depot on a fifteen minute timer. The Mandalorians who did the job were not wearing their armor for once since it was a covert op. They were halfway back to their hotel rooms when the bombs went off. Police droids rushed to the scene at once to gather clues but the Mandalorians were too careful to leave any . The criminals might have messed up but the Mandalorians were too well trained.

The bank was hit hard by 20 criminals with blasters and a rocket launcher. They simply blew out the side of the wall, blew the bank vault and grabbed the credits inside. An alarm instantly went off and police droids were quickly sent to the scene. The criminals got into a fire fight with them and only two escaped before the net dropped on them. 8 criminals were dead, 6 were wounded and the remaining 4 were arrested. It was quickly found out Emperor Maul was behind it. Maul didn't even try to hide it but wanted rumors of his exploits spread.

These were just two of the numerous incidents of Maul's criminal and terrorist campaign. Outside of sabotaging depots, bases and repair docks he also hit banks, stores, and wealthy neighborhoods. An irregular war was being waged behind Dooku's lines and he was being compelled to increase the number of battle droids and even a few droidika to patrol the streets. Not only were crimes that were directly planned by Maul occurring but he encouraged his men to commit "crimes of opportunity". They included simple muggings, extortion rackets, rapes, armed robbery and other violent crimes. There were smash and grabs, kidnappings and hijackings. They kicked up 50% of their take back up to Maul. Those who tried to hold out on him were made an example of by suffering the sadistic, brutal tortures that the Sith were known for. Not too many examples needed to be made. Money poured into Maul's coffers from all this crime.

Count Dooko was steaming mad. He clearly underestimated Maul. His hitting the various bases slowed down his fleet greatly. Fleets are of no use if they can't resupply, refuel or repair and Maul was definitely making it harder for him to do so. He hadn't expected that, he didn't think Maul had the wits to do that. He finally got the measure of the man though. Maul was very good in tactics, good in operations and very, very poor in grand strategy. It was the last that made Dooku underestimate him. His weak grasp of grand strategy blinded Dooku to the fact he could be good in other areas.

The fact is no one can build an enduring empire from criminals. They are too self serving , too undisciplined , mostly too under-educated and too violent to base an economy on. You can't base an economy long term on looting. Sooner or later you run out of places to loot. Many of the people in his empire very much hated him and would like nothing better than seeing him dead. It made his territory easy to infiltrate. Many of the inhabitants were all too happy to betray their "rulers" and point out their hiding places and other weaknesses. Between the hatred of the populace and the loose talk from his criminal troops intelligence gathering was almost ludicrously easy.

The only troops he had that were truly worth respecting were the Mandalorians. They had discipline, training and phenomenal fighting skills. Their violent past weeded out the sickly, the weak and the disabled. For centuries the Mandalorians practiced genetic engineering on themselves and were above human norms in physical abilities. They tended to be faster , stronger and hardier than normal humans.

Unfortunately for Maul the Mandalorians were getting sick of him. They despised the criminals that made up the vast majority of his troops and the vast majority if the Mandalorian population wanted to leave their violent past behind them. He himself underestimated how much they were sick of violence by this time and overestimated how popular the Death Watch was. From what he knew now he wasn't at all sure if they would have rose up if the Republic invaded to kick out Death Watch and left troops behind. They didn't rise up yet, although they were on the verge of doing so, and the disciplined troops of the Republic would have been far better behaved.

For now he would have to beef up the troop presence behind the lines and beef up the intelligence work. He was also sending armed cargo ships this time with frigate escorts. Superbattle droids and droidika would now be guarding the warehouses and depots while entire legions of police droids would be sent. Unfortunately this would weaken his front lines which were already stabilizing with the Republic even launching a successful offensive or two. This could not be helped as Maul was making him look weak and he couldn't afford looking weak.


	13. Chapter 13

hree men were scoping out the depot at night . One of them quick blasts four battle droid patrolling the outside via sniper rifle . Another crawls near by and then throws a droid popper to take out the two droids guarding the entrance. The handful of employees inside at night are quickly disposed of. They plant some explosives all over the depot on a fifteen minute timer. The Mandalorians who did the job were not wearing their armor for once since it was a covert op. They were halfway back to their hotel rooms when the bombs went off.

The bank was hit hard by 20 criminals with blasters and a rocket launcher. They simply blew out the side of the wall, blew the bank vault and grabbed the credits inside. An alarm instantly went off and police droids were quickly sent to the scene. The criminals got into a fire fight with them and only two escaped before the net dropped on them. 8 criminals were dead, 6 were wounded and the remaining 4 were arrested. It was quickly found out Emperor Maul was behind it. Maul didn't even try to hide it but wanted rumors of his exploits spread.

These were just two of the numerous incidents of Maul's criminal and terrorist campaign. Outside of sabotaging depots, bases and repair docks he also hit banks, stores, and wealthy neighborhoods. An irregular war was being waged behind Dooku's lines and he was being compelled to increase the number of battle droids and even a few droidika to patrol the streets. Not only were crimes that were directly planned by Maul occurring but he encouraged his men to commit "crimes of opportunity". They included simple muggings, extortion rackets, rapes, armed robbery and other violent crimes. There were smash and grabs, kidnappings and hijackings. They kicked up 50% of their take back up to Maul. Those who tried to hold out on him were made an example of by suffering the sadistic, brutal tortures that the Sith were known for. Not too many examples needed to be made. Money poured into Maul's coffers from all this crime.

Count Dooko was steaming mad. He clearly underestimated Maul. His hitting the various bases slowed down his fleet greatly. Fleets are of no use if they can't resupply, refuel or repair and Maul was definitely making it harder for him to do so. He hadn't expected that, he didn't think Maul had the wits to do that. He finally got the measure of the man though. Maul was very good in tactics, good in operations and very, very poor in grand strategy. It was the last that made Dooku underestimate him. His weak grasp of grand strategy blinded Dooku to the fact he could be good in other areas.

The fact is no one can build an enduring empire from criminals. They are too self serving , too undisciplined , mostly too under-educated and too violent to base an economy on. You can't base an economy long term on looting. Sooner or later you run out of places to loot. Many of the people in his empire very much hated him and would like nothing better than seeing him dead. It made his territory easy to infiltrate. Many of the inhabitants were all too happy to betray their "rulers" and point out their hiding places and other weaknesses. Between the hatred of the populace and the loose talk from his criminal troops intelligence gathering was almost ludicrously easy.

The only troops he had that were truly worth respecting were the Mandalorians. They had discipline, training and phenomenal fighting skills. Their violent past weeded out the sickly, the weak and the disabled. For centuries the Mandalorians practiced genetic engineering on themselves and were above human norms in physical abilities. They tended to be faster , stronger and hardier than normal humans.

Unfortunately for Maul the Mandalorians were getting sick of him. They despised the criminals that made up the vast majority of his troops and the vast majority if the Mandalorian population wanted to leave their violent past behind them. He himself underestimated how much they were sick of violence by this time and overestimated how popular the Death Watch was. From what he knew now he wasn't at all sure if they would have rose up if the Republic invaded to kick out Death Watch and left troops behind. They didn't rise up yet, although they were on the verge of doing so, and the disciplined troops of the Republic would have been far better behaved.

For now he would have to beef up the troop presence behind the lines and beef up the intelligence work. He was also sending armed cargo ships this time with frigate escorts. Superbattle droids and droidika would now be guarding the warehouses and depots while entire legions of police droids would be sent. Unfortunately this would weaken his front lines which were already stabilizing with the Republic even launching a successful offensive or two. This could not be helped as Maul was making him look weak and he couldn't afford looking weak.

Grand Admiral Trawn was smiling, Maul was indeed becoming a thorn in Dooku's side. He was, in fact , doing better than he thought he would. No matter, unless Maul was the best general the galaxy has seen since Revan he couldn't win with the resources he had at his disposal. He clearly wasn't that. Gifted at tactics and above average in operations he was poor in logistics and very poor in grand strategy. Throwing a bunch of criminals with various weapons was a logistical nightmare. If Thrawn didn't sell supplies to Maul cheaply through intelligence agents posing as black market arms dealers and inserted covert op troops to serve as his logistical officers the war would have ended before it really started. Using criminals turned the populations of occupied planets and the rest of the galaxy against him . Soon he would have served his purpose and he would manipulate things so Ione took over. Getting Maul to kill off the most violent riff raff of the Republic did nothing but good for it. He would send him another batch or two before cutting off the supply.

Three men infiltrated the Lakas III refueling center. One went quickly to the air recycling center . Thrawn gave him a false ID weeks ago and he used it to scan his way in. He quickly found the air vent. Over the last few weeks he made sure all the filters on the station were faulty. He put some air filters in his nostrils before reaching the target as did the two others. He put in a canister of sleep gas into the vent. _No sense in killing innocent people when you don't have to_ he thought. The personnel on the station dropped one by one very quickly. Within 3 minutes they were all snoozing away. At that moment another infiltrator went to the security room. He shut down all security droids and autonomous guns. In a third room another infiltrator shut down all weapons on the station .

30 Republic Cruisers dropped out of hyperspace along with 60 frigates . Fighters just poured out of them engaging the enemy. Republic fighters went in guns blazing at top speed . The droid fighters were blasted away quickly as they were outnumbered 5:1. The two battle stations could not be taken out before hand though as security on them was too tight even for Thrawn. It would have to be taken out the old fashioned weapons facing the refining base were taken out first to make sure it wasn't destroyed. Then came the big guns firing at the fleet. Before they were destroyed they took out two cruisers, badly damaged two others and destroyed 3 frigates. A half a dozen CIS cruisers with a dozen frigates dropped out on Thrawn's right flank causing confusion. Thrawn quickly maneuvered his ships to counter them but damage was done. Thrawn had 3 cruisers heavily damaged and two frigates destroyed in a matter of minutes. He ordered the damaged cruisers to hyper out to Halkan IV for repairs.

A squad of clonetroopers got into a transport and got carried to the base after the shields were lowered. They were joined by three others to form the garrison. The sleeping techs were sent back to Thrawn's ship as POWs. Republic techs arrived to get the base up and running. With this victory the CIS would have to rely on a refueling station 400 parsecs away or build a new one.

This victory was a fairly costly one for the Republic. Aside from the 2 destroyed cruisers, 5 cruisers heavily damaged and 5 frigates destroyed Thrawn lost 250 fighters. The losses were almost double what he projected. Dooku did indeed plan things well. However this was just the first phase of the plan and the fleet quickly divided in two to hit softer targets.

Admiral Tarkin was pleased, he was being summoned by the chancellor himself . No doubt Bail Organa would help his rise in power just like Palpatine did. Palpatine spotted him early as one who would do anything to crush the Separatists. They were filthy rebel traitors who deserved whatever happened to them. He crushed them more than once using tactics too brutal for other, lesser admirals, to consider. This rebellion by the Separatists must be crushed quickly and you had to be willing to use any method needed to do so. It was too bad that innocent civilians had to suffer but it was for the good of the galaxy. Unity and order must be brought to the galaxy at any price else chaos would prevail.

The moment he walked into the room he was grabbed by two clonetroopers. "What is the meaning of this?" he shouted Bail answered "The meaning of this is that you are under arrest for corruption. You are one of a couple score of admirals and a couple hundred captains. The navy is now being purged of its corruption . Admiral Yularen is being promoted to rear admiral and taking your place. Unlike you he didn't hide money in a slush fund on Palpatine's orders nor did he massacre civilians. You will be taken to Alkan military base brig until trial. You are dismissed , Admiral"

Rear Admiral Yularen walked in and saluted " Although I am promoting you the Jedi have said you are somewhat tainted by your dealings with the old chancellor. You are given three weeks paid leave and will spend some time with Master Yoda. Anakin Skywalker and Ahsoka Tahno will also be there as Anakin is on probation dealing with some issues himself. You are a good man Yularen but apparently Palpatine has led you down the path of the dark side. You are by no means there yet or I wouldn't have promoted and Yoda says with his help he is sure you will come back more towards the light. A short leave will do you good . Try not to be upset too much at yourself. Palpatine was a sly manipulator and started Anakin along a dark path himself and he is a Jedi. It will be announced as you being seconded to the Jedi for a brief time which is true. I have no doubt you are loyal to the republic and will remain so with Yoda's help. "

Admiral Yularen answers "Thank you , sir. If Palpatine somehow manipulated me towards a dark path then I do need help stepping back from it. I know Master Yoda's reputation, if anyone can help it is him"

Admiral Yuelaren entered the Jedi Temple. Anakin greets him with a "Welcome to exile!" and grins "Actually it isn't that bad. " Admiral Yuelaren says "And how would you know General Skywalker?"

Anakin answers " Why do you think I am here in the first place? I was slipping towards the Dark Side myself, far more than you did. You are with us for three weeks. I am going to be here another 3 months."

Admiral Yuelaren says "Is that why you haven't been with the 501st lately? I guess your emotions have been slipping lately, I didn't know they got to dangerous levels yet. Captain Rex merely said that you were assigned to the Jedi Temple for the time being." Anakin replies "That is all he has been told. This is a bit embarrassing and Rex doesn't really need to know. Rex is a good man and I don't want to lose his respect if I can help it."Admiral Yuelaren answers " You have to give Rex more credit than that sir. You won't lose his respect, he respects you too much. He will understand."

Ahsoka says "He is right Anakin, Rex will understand. He is a good man."  
Anakin replies "I know he is a good man, that is why I am ashamed to tell him."  
Admiral Yuelaren says "Well, you don't have to worry about me Skywalker. I won't tell him if you don't want me to. "Ahsoka says "I think he may tell him in his own time. Master Yoda says he has been making a lot of progress."Anakin replies "That's right talk like I am not here. I may eventually tell him or I may not but it will be my choice!" Ahsoka says "OK, OK sheesh. It isn't like I am going to tell him."

Yoda approaches "Skywalker a choice he must make. Deal with it eventually he will. Decision he will make I know not. Admiral Yuelaren deceived by the Chancellor you have been. If still alive bad choices you would have made. Turn from the dark path you will. Recommend your promotion I did."

The Admiral looks startled for a moment "You recommend me. I thought you said I was tainted by the dark side"Yoda replies "What you are now is not who you will be. Far less tainted than Skywalker you are. Turn back from the dark side you will." Admiral Yuelaren says "I thought only the Jedi were effected by the dark side."

Anakin replies "No, admiral everyone is effected by the force. You simply can't sense it or control it like a Jedi can. Non-Jedi are hardly immune to the pull of evil! It was the influence of Palpatine that has tainted you. Palpatine thrived on corruption. Look at me, I am far more tainted than you are and yet I have made great progress. " Yuelaren responds "Very well, I hardly want to fall to corruption. So let us get started."

Thrawn's fleet smashed into the CIS fleet like it was made out of tinfoil. 27 cruisers and 25 frigates against 5 cruisers and 7 frigates is a fight that does not last long even with two battle stations supporting them. Thrawn's force blasted all 5 cruisers out of space along with 5 frigates with only 2 CIS frigates managing to escape into hyperspace. To make it even better for Thrawn he lost only 50 fighters in the whole engagement.

On the ground it was equally one sided as the clones fought with heavy fighter support. Entire brigades of battle droids were destroyed in hours. Huge were ripped into their lines. Whenever things got stalled there was "Death from above". By the end of 3 days the planet was totally liberated by the Republic.

Dooku was fuming. Maul was definitely a thorn in his side. If it weren't for him he could have sent enough ships to stop the attack. He had more ships, of course, but the Republic was probing him and he couldn't be strong everywhere. He called General Grievous " You are to destroy the Mandalorian Empire. I will grant you 100 cruisers and 200 frigates in all and they will be full of battle droids. You have 6 weeks to complete the campaign. This is the test where you can truly prove yourself worthy of being my top general."

Grievous replies "Yes , my lord. I will not fail you." Dooku responds "I hope not, for your sake. I will not take any failure on your part lightly."

General Grievous sliced through the defenses of the Mandalorian Empire . They were no match for the main general of the CIS forces. Maul's space forces were chopped to pieces by the general. He took systems without loosing a single frigate. He landed big garrisons on the planets landing rank after rank of battle drods spearheaded by super battle droids and droidika, ordering his troops to stamp out any criminals activity but levy only ordinary taxes but no draft. Anyone willing to join the CIS armed forces would be sent to the various training centers.

Ione decided today was the day to join the rebellion. Maul was starting to lose control and new allies would be needed to turn back Dooku. Something better than undisciplined criminal scum. Dooku apparently sent Grevious after them and they were doomed if they didn't get a real army. She left Maul's throne room quickly and quietly. She exited the palace through a side door and went to her contact in the resistance. "It is time" she said. Her contact took her to a warehouse.

The warehouse was in the slums and was run down but not completely falling apart . She went into the center of the room and said loudly " I have a plan to rid you and myself of Maul. I have come up with a plan to do this for some time in secret. He is sending a large group of criminals to strike at Dooku. Now is our chance. I found out that my father died a week ago so he can no longer threaten me."

"How do we know we can trust you?" one cries out."You see how he treats. her. She is merely his plaything. No doubt he threatened her dad so he could have some sort kinky thrills with her." another answers."Yeah, leave her alone." says a third "Hasn't she suffered enough?"The first voice answers "OK, OK I was just asking." "I have all of his mens patrol routes marked here . I also have his weapons depots and supply dumps marked." Ione says

After looking over her information the rebellion hits Maul hard. His patrols get massacred , his depots and warehouses broken into and his plans are disrupted. In the third week Ione decides it is time to strike the final blow and heads to confront Maul alone after making sure that a live holocast would be made of the confrontation.

As Ione enters the throne room Maul shouts "Traitor" and leaps torwards her igniting his double sabre. She backpeddles and using the force she causes the illusionary sound of someone behind him. He does a backflip out of the way to confront the new enemy. He then whirls back at her approach. She jumps to the side and force pulls a lighting fixture from the cieling. Maul jumps back and force pushes her. She lunges to her feet and uses a force curse Mother Talzin taught her to slow Maul's reflexes. He comes at her again. Even with his reflexes somewhat slowed he drives her back. She flips over him and creates an ilusion of two men running towards him. He starts charging them. She then does a spinning turn and stabs him in the back. He slumps forward and she chops off his head.

Hearing about how he returnred from the dead she chops him into six pieces , gathers him together into a pile, places a thermal detonator on top of it on a twenty second delay and watches it blow his body parts to atoms. _Let's see him come back from that_ she thinks.

After the display on the holochannels she is acclaimed the new leader of the Mandalorian Rebellion. She declares it a Republic and herself as interim prime minister. _By the time the elections are held she thinks I will make sure I will control the people who count the votes.  
_  
The next day she gets a call from Bail Organa. "Congratulations on your overthrow of Emperor Maul." he says. "Thank you" she replies."As chancellor I have the power to write treaties. Like us you want to destroy Dooku" he saysShe replies "And if I do?""I can sell you 200 obsolete cruisers plus their spare parts and 400 obsolete frigates with their spare parts for 30 billion Republic Credits. The technical data on them are included." he says

"I am willing to negotiate for the exact terms as it sounds interesting. I am sure they quite out of date with the war you are fighting but they are better than nothing" she says.

"True, at this point they are costing us more than they are worth with the new cruisers becoming finished. I will also throw in a bonus. It is a plan made by one of our military experts on how to use them best. I am sending them through now." Bail responds.

She looks at the plans. She would have to run her own simulations but on the face of it they look very good, brilliant even , as far as she could follow it. The plans were apparently written by one Grand Admiral Thrawn.

Grievous was getting worried, he was being bogged down fighting the Mandalorain Republic. The criminals were gone but they somehow found cruisers. Obsolete cruisers to be sure but cruisers. Worse yet with the criminals gone the natives were far less cooperative. They were being treated as invaders not liberators. He was taking more casualties than projected and it was taking longer. The enemy seemed able to predict his every move. Unless he could break them soon he would find it impossible to conquer it in six weeks. He didn't want to think about what would happen to him if he failed.

Count Dooku summoned Barris to him "Darth Wrath this struggle with Mandalore is taking too long. Go deal with it. Deal with Grievous as a Warrior of the Sith and then deal with the witch Ione using the full power of the Dark Side. Ione is powerful and no fool so this is going to be the first of your truly great tests. Prove yourself worthy of being my apprentice." She bows and says "Yes, my master"

Obi Wan entered the temple with Luminara and sees Padme and asks "Do you know where Anakin is?" She answers "He is doing lightsabre practice in the training area." He answers "OK, I guess I will go there then"

He goes down the hall and down the stairs where he hears the sound of a lightsabre crackling against another one and sees him pushing his against a training droids. Anakin hears Obi Wan coming and says "We'll stop here." to the droid which turns of its sabre and walks off to one of the corners. He turns to Obi Wan and asks "Something you wanted to see me about?"

Obi Wan grins and says "Yes, congratulate me I am getting married to Luminara here."Anakin smiles and says "Great, I am glad for the both of you. You did help cheer her up after her padawan's fall to the dark side." Luminara says calmly "Indeed, Skywalker. Obi Wan has been a great help."

Anakin says "Well join the club. Me and Padme, you and Obi Wan and Ahsoka and Lux. Of course those two are too young to get married yet but they are going out. You two should do very well. You both epitomize the best of the Jedi code. Calm but compassionate, wise and understanding you are among the best of us. " Lumanara says "Thank you Anakin. "

Darth Wrath was approaching the ship Vengence which was General Grievous's flagship. "Darth Wrath to Vengence, Count Dooku sent me to talk to General Grievous in person. I will be meeting him on the bridge."

"Roger, roger" answered the droid "We will await you coming. " As he cuts off the com link he mutters "I get stuck between Sith Apprentice and an out of favor general, I hate my job!" Darth Wrath quickly and quietly moves to the bridge where she meets General Grievous. "You have taken too long, your death will be my challenge . If I die my death will be your challenge." She then lights twin lightsabers. "Come assassin and meet your doom." yells Grievous.

Barris backflips over him as he lights his sabers . He tries attacking her and she parries off the hits and force pushes him to the floor . He crawls a ways and leaps up again slicing at Barris. She cartwheels away from him and force pulls him into a wall. He manages to break out of it and charges her, right into her force lightning. He screams and then backs off. Recovering he presses down on her lightsabers pushing her down. She summersaults away and starts slamming him with all sorts of objects at him . He then turns and runs.

Barris says "I expected this." and then yells out to the tactical droid on the bridge "Initiate protocol 159GGD " The droid nods and announces over the intercom " General Grievous has been declared a traitor by Dooku. All droids are to kill him on sight."

A bunch of "Roger , rogers" come from all over the ship. A half a dozen battle droids fire on Grievous and miss while he destroys him all. His luck runs out when Tactical Droid 1575DDY orders super battle droids and droidika who then blow him to pieces.

She then gets Dooku on the holocommunicator. "You were right , my master. He ran like the coward he was. I initiated protocol 1599GGD as instructed when he did so. " "Remember this well, my apprentice. Even though cowards might sometimes have their uses , dispose of them once their usefulness is at an end. Darth Sidious was too willing to put up with Grievous's cowardice because he was a brilliant tactician and a gifted strategist. He has failed in that task so his usefulness was at an end. " Dooku replies. Barris bows her head and says "Yes, my master. I will remember. I joyfully ended his life for his cowardice. It gave me great pleasure to give the order."

Dooku replies "Good,good. That hate will strengthen your connection to the dark side. Cowards like that should be hated. Ione will be more of a challenge. She has the full power of the force behind her and is no coward. I want her alive. She would be a great asset if turned to our cause." Barris says "As you wish, my master."

Mother Tlzin called Ione to her side "There has been a disturbance in the force. Someone is searching for you. Be very, very careful. This one is very dangerous. A Sith Apprentice she is. I know not her name but she has been sent from Count Dooku and should not be underestimated. If you confront her directly you will die. If she finds you where you where you are not prepared for her flee at once. " Ione says " I am not afraid of death."

Mother Tlzin replies "That is good but you are not expendable, child. We are not the Sith, we are loyal to each other. Do as I say, you are among the best of us which is why you were sent. We are in the middle of rebuilding the Sisterhood and no one is expendable, especially you." Ione bows her head and says "As you wish, Mother."

Ione returns to the Prime Minister Residence and summons the head of Mandalorian Republic Guard and says "I have information that Count Dooku is sending an assassin against me. Double the perimeter guard and I want a squad of your best men as body guards." He blinks "it's the first I have heard of if, but it makes sense. Very well, we will do as you say. We will also upgrade the locks ."

Count Dooku arrived to the fleet in person to command, he wanted the Mandalorian Republic once and for all. . The Mandalorian Fleet was no match for Dooku. Time and time again he smashed their fleets. All fell to the Sith Lord. Between his cunning and his dark side powers the Mandlorians could find no one who could even slow him down much. He conquered more area in a week than Grievous did in a month. For now he ruled it with a light hand, the iron fist could come later. There was a time and a place for everything.

General Danaz smiled, he was driving the militia before him . He led his men in front unlike the cowardly Grievous who only led from the front when the battle was practically over and their was no risk to his hide. Not that there was much risk in this case. There was still widespread resentment of their former criminal overlords. Recent Mandalorian propaganda did not drive out that history completely. Although some stood and fought others ran like rabbits the moment the droids came into view. He gets Count Dooku on the holocommunicator and says "I have great news, it looks like we will take this planet a week early. " Count Dooku nods and says "Good work, general. You have been more than an adequate replacement for Grieveous so far."

Count Dooku sits in his chair thinking. For all his political skill Palpatine was a poor military leader. Grievous was a gifted tactician but was too cowardly and too angry to be a good general. He covered up his cowardice with overaggressive behavior. More than once he had to tell him that droids were expensive and not to destroy them in a fit of anger, unlike the current general. Then there was the Death Star plans Palpatine had him get. They were among the first things he destroyed. The history of the galaxy showed again and again such overkill tactics were more likely to unite the galaxy against him than cow his opponents. A commander who relied on superweapons was a poor commander. They had a dismal record of success. His plans for using bigotry against non-humans to unite the humans was also foolish. Why cut off potential supporters. There were better ways of rallying people than pointing at others who you could use for your own benefit. He was a gifted politician and powerful in the force but was about as militarily talented as Darth Malek. With Malek's resources he would have brought the Galactic Republic to its knees. Malek squandered all that potential on stupidity. He didn't make sure Revan was dead. He wasted months chasing Bastilla when he could have accomplished something with that time. He sent a bounty hunter to do a Sith's work. It was one thing to send them against ordinary padawans and another against padawans with Bastilla's power. Of course it was Revan who took down Calo Nord but he was sure he wouldn't have done any better with Bastilla. She later became a Jedi Master and it was obvious even at the time she had the potential to be one. Sending a mere bounty hunter against her was suicide. He planned to be a "Reven" instead of Palpatine's "Malek". After all it was Revan who survived.


	14. Chapter 14

Ione was becoming more and more unhappy as the news came back. Thrawn's plans worked to perfection until Dooku became directly involved and then the whole thing started unraveling. She now had a Sith Apprentice trying to assassinate her and a Sith Master directly interfering with her plans. Like it or not the Mandalorian Republic had to join the Galactic Republic so she could come under Republic protection. It might well have been part of the strategy tree of Thrawn but it could not be helped. Fortunately the Republic had a pretty light hand on systems which helped to get it through the Mandalorian Senate. They wouldn't try to oust her from being prime minister , particularly when they wanted it in and she was the one to get it in. Still her actions would be restrained as she would be subject to Republic law. _Better get it over with_ she thought.

Ione went into the communications building and called Bail Ogana. "Due to the increased CIS against the Mandalorian Republic, the Mandalorian Republic is officially petitioning he Galactic Senate to join the Galactic Republic."

Bail smiles "I am sure we can negotiate something. The Senate has to approve of course but I will recommend you to be admitted as soon as possible. The Trade Federation Seat is now available so I will recommend that you take their seat. The Mandalorian Republic does consist of over a thousand worlds after all"

Ione nods "Thank you, I will send a representative right away. His name is Alkar Ribone , a Bith who moved here 10 years back."

Bail responds "That will do fine, just have him inform the Senate building one hour before he arrives so we can greet him properly."

She nods back "I will do that."

On a space station near Aron IV Cad Bane says "Are you here to do business or not? Count Dooku double crossed me before by being a no show so whatever it is , it is going to cost you double."

"Count Dooku was unfortunately delayed as the former chancellor threw roadblocks in his path." Barris replies.

"Yeah, yeah, sure, sure as long as I get paid. So what is the job?" he says

"I want you to take out the perimeter guard of the Mandalorian Senate Building". she replies.

"You are asking a lot so it will cost you a lot. 1 million credits plus six custom designed sniper rifles, six custom designed blasters, six jamming devices and 36 programming spikes with the weapons and equipment in advance." he replies.

"Agreed, when can you do it?" she says

"Give me two weeks to set it up. Such a job can't be done overnight." he says

She nods back "OK, just make sure its done."

"Don't worry , I know I won't get paid unless the job is done so it will get done. That is why you are hiring me." he replies.

Cad Bane had his team assembled. Aura Sing would be a sniper , Durull was there to strangle guards from behind, Tembo was to sneak in and pick locks, Quasi was to leap on top of the buildings for look out duty, Sidritch would provide hologram matrices. He already sold the custom equipment he got from Dooku as he had his own. He merely came up with it to get some up front money. They were in holograms that made them look like Mandalorian Republic Guard. Once they got in Quasi backfliped into an upper balcony and went down the hall. Meanwhile Aura Sing took out two guards with a silenced blaster. They have less punch than a normal blaster so she had to hit the armor just right but for someone with her skills it was no problem. Cad Bane quickly dragged them out of sight. Durull than strangled two more from behind on the way to the computer center. Tembo got their way past the locks to the computer room and took out the three techs. Sidritch then hacked his way into the net and rerouted the guards to an "emergency" in the sub basement.

Barris then entered the building heading straight for the Prime Minister's office. There she saw Ione with her eyes closed. "I was waiting for you." she said.

"I sensed your presence and knew you would come straight here."

Barris stomped towards her, saber drawn. Ione lights her saber and does a quick backflip. She then creates an illusionary nose behind Barris. Barris was not Maul however and she did a backflip over it keeping her eye on Ione. She then used a force power Dooku taught her to use only the force to sense where a person is at. It divided her attention but made her immune to Ione's illusions. Dooku could fight almost as well using it as not using it but she wasn't Dooku and it showed. Ione started driving her backwards. She force pushed Ione who came out of it with her own force push. Barris had more power and training than Ione and the battle started going the other way. Ione pushed a button that opened a hole in the ceiling and force jumped through it dropping a smoke grenade behind her yelling down "Another time" and was gone.

Barris fumed, she had no choice but to contact her master. Either she would contact him or he would contact her. The former meant less punishment. " I am sorry, master but Ione escaped my clutches this time. I had her guard eliminated but she had an escape through the ceiling we did not know about. There are a bunch of dead Mandalorian guards but no Ione."

"An unforeseen event, I must meditate on this my apprentice. Tell Cad Bane that I deposited the money in the account he gave. He did his part and unless I pay him I will never be able to use him again." the count said.

"It is well you told me right away. The punishment for your failure would have been far worse if I had to contact you".

She bowed her head "Yes, my master"

Anakin and Ahsoka stepped on the bridge of The Hope of Nabboo one of the Republic's newest cruiser. Captain Rex saluted him and said "Glad to see you back general, me and the boys missed you. Done with your Jedi training for now?"

"Yes, captain and it is good to be back. What have you got?" Anakin replies.

"Well, sir Kalin IV has been captured by the separatists and we have been ordered to liberate the planet. The local species is named the Haran. They are an insectoid species like the Genosians but there are a number of differences. First, they are very loyal to the Republic. Second their wings are larger and stronger so they fly faster, Their outer shell is somewhat softer, however so they are easier to kill. They also move faster on the ground than Genosians do. They can run at a full 100 KM/hr!" Rex said

Ahsoka whistles " That is fast indeed for a ground speed , How fast can they fly?"

Rex answers "About 150 KM/Hr. One downside is that they are heavy eaters , so they have to carry a lot of food with them. The surface temperature is quite high as is the atmospheric pressure and gravity. The temperature can go over 90 degrees C at the equator, the gravity is 2.5 G and the atmospheric pressure is is 3.2 atmospheres. The axis tilt is large so there is a larger than average difference in temperature. It is about only 5 C at the poles. The winds above the trees are quite fierce. Due to the high gravity and atmospheric pressure the surface is quite humid and the planet is mostly forest. When it rains it rains hard. It isn't Kashyyk however and the largest trees are only 50M tall. "

Anakin replies "Looks like we are going in powered environmental suits then."

Rex nods "No way around that, between the high heat and high gravity we could never make it without it."

Anakin asks "What do the Separatists have on the ground?"

Rex shrugs "A new type of droid. It is no more than a meter high and a half a meter across. It is far faster than the average droid but less tough. Almost any hit will take one down, they needed to cut down on the armor to increase the speed to keep up with the locals. It can run at 120 KM/Hr."

"How friendly are the locals , Rex?" Ahsoka asks

"Very friendly, particularly if you provide them with sweet food and drink" he replies.

"Sweet drinks? Well , we have quite a bit of fruit drinks on board." she replies

"I would advise adding about a KG of sugar to every gallon of it." he says

"Rex, those drinks are pretty sweet as is. Add that much and they are a thick syrup nauseatingly sweet." she replies

"Yeah, but the locals really need a lot of sugar with their metabolism. They have the biggest sweet tooth imaginable." he replies

"OK, I will have them mix up about a thousand gallons of sickeningly sweet syrup then and tell the admiral to order sugar. It will use up a lot of our supply" she replies.

Anakin and Ahsoka landed on the planet. The first thing she noticed was that there were certainly similarities between insects and the Haran there were a number of differences as well. They had four limbs instead of six and they were thicker for their size. She also read that they digested food far more efficiently than standard life forms which is why they could move so fast even with the high gravity. With all that energy coming down the vegetation was thick. Under the trees the undergrowth has heavy.

She saw a Haran. come out of nowhere and level a super battle droid. All that weight slamming at that speed really dented its armor. Like insects the Haran. had a hard exoskeleton but it was both harder and thicker so when they collided it didn't come out worse than the droid did, in fact better. Haran were smart and knew exactly which part of their body could have its exoskeleton crushed a bit without hurting itself much and it was doing the attacking.

She got out of the transport and Anakin and herself rolled down the barrels of syrup . The Haran swarmed it from all over. They seemed to love the stuff. She should have known, Rex was a smart man and very rarely made big mistakes.

Anakin called out "Let's move out Rex, I want you to set up a base camp 6 clicks out. 3PO come with me it is time to meet the local leaders."  
C3PO said "Of course Master Anakin I am right behind you."

They went to the capital building which was 10 stories high. Most of the inhabitants flew into the upper levels but they had elevators for the more numerous non-flying beings from other planets. The Haran were not xenophobic and tended to welcome outsiders. They went to the top floor where Prime Minister Asha was waiting for them. Anakin bows and says "I was sent by the Jedi Council to find out how the Republic can help your world."

The prime minister answered "What we could use now is more sensors. The new droids they sent here are often stealthy and we missed so until too late. We can also use some anti-armor rockets."

"Anything else?" he replies.

"Yes, we heard the Jedi changed the rules and we have a couple of adults who the Jedi said were force sensitive but whose parents were unwilling to give up. If you will meet them in Hal Khuruz I would be grateful." he replies.

Ahsoka grins "I think we can do that, right Skyguy?"

Anakin smiles and says "I'll check them out for you shall I? Even with the new rules we won't accept everyone. I will need a background check. We can't allow beings who proven to be very corruptible to join the Jedi. We have had too many problems with Dark Siders already."

He nods "Of course, the last thing we want are Sith."

Last edited: Sunday at 5:09 PM


	15. Chapter 15

Anakin and Ahsoka went to the main building and saw a group of Heran milling about. He went up in front and stated "I am Anakin Skywalker and this is my apprentice Ahsoka Tano. We are here to recruit some of you as Jedi. It is a long but rewarding process. As you are in a remote part of the galaxy we don't have any of you people in our order yet. It will take us six months to a year for us to come up with a training regimen for you, particularly since you are non-humanoid. " " It should be non-Togrutainoid in my opinion" remarks Ahsoka and grins."How many humans are there for every Togrutain again, Snips?" he responds "I know, Skyguy. You people breed like Aktarian slugs" she shrugs.

He turns back to the audience " From what I have read your people are probably gifted in telepathy and telekinesis. You can already send your thoughts to each other and the power of the force will strengthen it. You are also much stronger than the average sentient species, stronger even than Wookies. We will have to strengthen some of our training equipment to be able to handle the punishment. On the other hand you have less stanima than the average humanoid so we are going to have to cut your training hours a bit. "

One of them asks "How long do you think it will take?"

Anakin answers "It usually takes between 3 to 6 months to come up with non-standard training procedures and another 3 to 6 to flesh out the details so we are talking about 6 months to a year. Even with new humanoid species it takes 3 to 6 months as we have to read up on cultural differences. You can expect a number of mistakes being made for years afterwards as we figure things out. It will take decades to centuries to perfect them. Sentient beings are complex so it takes a while. We have some experience in this as you are far from the first non-humanoids that we have taught the ways of the force. All sentient species can do so and although humanoids make up 98% of all sentient species there are so many of them that there are still thousands of non-humanoids. "

Another member of the audience says "Are there any constants in training Jedi?"

Anakin answers "There are a few. You must always beware of the Dark Side. Even the strongest Jedi can fall to the Dark Side. It is a temptation to all living beings. It offers the quick and easy pass and feeds on negative emotions which all known sentient species have. Fortunately it is turned aside by positive emotions. The most dangerous thing a Jedi for a Jedi to do is to use the force when angry and since anger is an emotion found in all sentient species hard to resist."

Ahsoka says "Training is long and difficult. It will take you years to master the force but the results are well worth it. Those here who desire to learn the ways of the force will take the next shuttle to Dantooine to the Jedi Temple there. Although you won't begin training in the force yet there are other things you will need to learn and we certainly need to learn about you. This is only the beginning for those of you who go. The ending is well worth it. Anakin will see how strong you are in the Dark Side. Those who are will go through rigorous emotional control training before they learn the ways of the force. We do not need a new generation of Sith. "

He shrugs and turns to the crowd " We will have to check how strong you are on the Light Side vs the Dark Side before we take you. We have no need for Sith. If you are strong on the Dark Side I will have to flag your file to help teach you to give up anger, hate and fear. This can be very difficult . I have found difficulty in doing so myself from time to time. Fortunately it is countered by love, happiness and contentment as they belong to the Light Side. Those who go through the training will find it rewarding."

He checks all the Heran for their Dark Side taint and says very quietly to one " I need to talk to you. Meet me in room 224 in an hour. "He meets the Heran an hour later and says "Alk-Sha I sense you are powerful in the force, unfortunately on the Dark Side."The Heran hisses "Do you mean I can't become a Jedi?""No, it means you will need to be trained in controlling your emotions before we can train you in learning the ways of the force. I will recommend you to be apprenticed to Master Plo Koon after you complete your emotion control training. He is one of our wisest and calmest Jedi." Anakin responds.

Alk-Sha bows his head and says "Very well, I will do as you say."

They leave the compound and they see Rex waiting outside. "So what did you find out , sir?" "Well, Rex we need to set up more sensors as the Heran seem to be losing the droids in the underbrush and they are requesting more anti-armor rockets. Bring down what we have and order 200,000 more and have them sent her right away. " "Yes, sir. i just got a message we have clankers on our left flank."

Anakin and Ahsoka run to their left. A dozen super battle droids backed up by 3 dozen normal ones take the field. "I'll take the left and you take the right, Ahsoka" " OK, Skyguy" she replies. A blaster bolt slips past her defenses and she is hit in the hips and she falls down in pain. Skywalker shouts to Rex "Get a squad here now! I am going after Ahsoka. " Rex replies "Yes, sir!" He then says into his comm-link "I want Bravo squad here now"

Skywalker goes into speed mode , slicing a super battle droid from the top as he somersaults over it. He gets to her side "You OK, Ahsoka?" She replies "I don't feel too good Skyguy but I will make it." Anakin kneels by her side and says "Something Master Yoda taught me." He lays his hands over her side and the muscles knit and the bones mend. She looks up at him "That feels much better , you must show me that trick."

Bravo squad arrives and battle droids start dropping left and right. The two Jedi then get up and give cover to the squad by deflecting returning bolts. The new type of droids which Anakin decided to dub "Caterpillar Droids" came bounding into view. The new droids are fast enough to give problems to most of the troopers. Most troopers aren't Rex, however and he handled them with less difficulty. The Jedi had no problems at all and destroyed the lot using speed and leaps.

Dooku was sitting in his chair thinking. Barris was indeed becoming a powerful Sith. She had more potential than Maul , that was certain. Maul had brute cunning and raw power but Barris had real intelligence and real skill in the force. She would eventually be a threat to him as that was the way of the Sith, at least if he followed the old rules. But why should he follow the old rules? That led to failure, time and time again the Sith failed because they turned against one another. The Sith needed to find new ways to survive, along with himself. He had to admit the last was part of it. Although old he wasn't exactly looking forward to death. The Sith needed to compete against each other but it had to be controlled. He would have to come up with some kind of rules for challenge. That was the way to go. That way they would still have competition but not so much that it falls apart. He would have to think on this, meanwhile there were other things to consider. Now was time to give a speech that would help increase his power.

He strides out on a platform "People of the CIS, the menace of the Mandalorian Empire is increasing. Although it is being pushed back its ruler has changed from Emperor Maul to the so called Prime Minister Ione. Do not be fooled , she is empress in all but name. The Mandalorians have been aligned with the Sith in the past and they are now. As shown earlier holocastings Emperor Maul was a Sith Apprentice to Chancellor Palpatine. There is no other explanation for the Dark Side Powers displayed. After Palpatine's death Maul became the new Sith Master. Ione then overthrew him in typical Sith style probably on the orders of the new Sith Lord Chancellor Organa. They have joined forces and are in the process of becoming the new Sith Empire. To combat this menace I unfortunately need more money for new battle droids. Also we need to track Confederate citizens more closely to prevent sabotage and spying from the new menace. All citizens have 6 months to get a new ID with their genetic scan imprinted on it. This is unfortunate but necessary to prevent the so called republics from conducting espionage in our great Confederacy. These IDs will no longer be necessary after the crisis passes. May the maker bless the Confederacy."

Dooku strides back _The fools will buy this_ he thinks. _The Mandalorians are a nuisance but they will prove useful in the long run. There nasty reputation will allow me more control. Not only can we use the droids for the war we can use them to bring order to the galaxy. When making an additional 20 million or so what is a a couple hundred thousand or so being used for policing? Nothing in the greater scheme of things, almost unnoticed from the front lines but can be used to tighten the grip on rebellious planets. With the new IDs I can keep an eye on everyone. No one will be able to contest my power._


	16. Chapter 16

Dooku was not happy. The Mandalorian Republic became more a problem under the Republic than he calculated. The citizenry were not at all displeased with the idea of becoming a part of the Galactic Republic. The Mandalorians seemed to have learned their lesson during the last civil war and were heartily sick and tired of war. Most of the Death Watch was dead after playing their part of Maul's plans and the rest were pacifistic enough not to cause the Galactic Republic problems. The Republic Navy took over the spaceports and Republic clonetroopers were patrolling their streets with little incidents. The troopers were well disciplined and behaved while the Galactic Republic government ruled with a light hand, as always. The clonetroopers were training Mandalorians in law enforcement to take over. Many of Mandalorian Police were killed when Maul took over as they objected the most to being ruled by criminals. He had to stir things up somehow but how?

He summoned his apprentice. With Republic Clonetroopers protecting Ione he had to think of a plan to get Baris close enough to her to assassinate her. The direct approach failed, even with Cad Bane's help. He said "It is time to continue your lessons on Sith rule. A lot of what the Jedi told you were lies. The Rule of Two is one of those lies. Such a rule would make the Sith weak and fragile. How can you rule the galaxy with only two people? Also if both you die there goes the Sith religion. No, my apprentice the Sith are not that stupid."

Baris replies "I wondered about that myself, master. It would make the Sith hard to detect but weak and fragile. Two people can do only so much and if both are killed at the same time that is the end of that. I figured , after I started in your service, that it was a Jedi lie to make the Sith look foolish and cowardly"

He replies "Indeed, The Jedi do this so their apprentices never try to learn the true power of the Dark Side. If the Sith are so weak and foolish why join them? Another lie is that the apprentice always murders the master in any way he can. This is also not true, such assinations can only happen when the master is weakening the Sith Empire as a whole through either stupidity or insanity and there are rules. It has to be a formal challenge as killing a master in his sleep or poisoning him does not prove that you are worthy of taking his place but merely that you are a mundane killer. It must be face to face and with a true force battle. Nothing less will prove you worthy. You can only challenge someone one rank ahead of you. They have the option of backing down , in which case you become the master and they become your servant. If you lose he kills you for your foolishness. Once a decade or when the emperor dies there is a great contest to show who is the most powerful in the force. This is what places you in the Sith hierarchy. The force is all. "

She says "Never before did I know there were so many Jedi lies but it makes sense. The Sith could not have lasted so long and had so many empires if they were stupid."

Dooku replies "Indeed not, you were taken in from the beginning. That is one reason the Jedi take only the very young as apprentices. They need to mold their minds from the start."

 _That is the advantage of being the Sith Master_ Dooku thinks _They will abide by your rules because how do they know if you are lying or not? This makes the Sith easy to reform right now as there is no one but me to tell her what the rules are. The new rules should serve the status quo well. It gives the advantages to the master. An open challenge is much easier to defend against than a knife in the dark. If she becomes more powerful than me I can back down and we switch places. Being second in command would not be as good as now but at least I will be alive.  
_  
Bail Organa sat behind his desk when Mon Mothma came in . He says to her "I have been thinking. One of the main weaknesses of the Republic is that it is too decentralized and the citizen's stake in the Republic is weaker than that in his home planet. We need to change that. It is time for the average citizen to have skin in the game. The government should start selling bonds directly to the people. It is more expensive than bowering directly from the new central bank but it gives people a stake in the system. I also suggest that 5 percent of a person's wage is put into such bonds to pay for a pension they can start receiving at age 70 or their heirs on death, which is a separate account from those they buy on their own which will start falling due after the war ends. That means if the Republic falls their money goes with it. Also we can frankly use the cash."

Mon Mothma muses " It should strengthen the government to be sure and like you say we can use the cash. I will try to push it through. No promises though. People have been leery of government control since he Kyber Era."

Bail continues "I have been able to get gene samples from wookies, twilicks and gungans to make more clone troopers. Adding non-humans to the clone templates should slow down the human supremacy agenda that has been creeping up the last couple of decades"

Mon Mothma seems happy at this "Good, and should strengthen non-human support for the Republic. Hopefully we can spread it out from there."


	17. Chapter 17

Count Dooku was waiting in his studies with two young people . One was a human male and the other was a twilek female. He nods to Barris and says "These are two new young disciples, Aran and Oswanda. They are strong on the dark side and are about to learn the true power of the force".

He says to them "The power of the Dark Side is raw emotion. Anger and fear make it strong." With that he hits them both with force lightning. "Yes, let the anger grow. Your anger will give you power" . He zaps them again. " Now concentrate and move these two rocks." They struggle with it and he says "If you fail here I may have to find new apprentices after killing you." The rocks start moving. "Good , good let your fear and anger help move this rock. Soon you will have to channel all your fear into anger for the Sith have no fear, but it is a good start." He strides forward and says "As a true showing of the power of the force I present you Jando Vorlees the man who brought about the fall of the chancellor with Order 65. By using the power of the Dark Side I made all light go out where he was and allowed him to see his way through it as it was full day. Remember this, never waste a good resource. The Jedi say we are wasteful and kill without thinking through sheer bloodlust but that is a lie. As long as a citizen is useful and loyal he is safe from us. It is only the weak and the disloyal that have to fear us. The Jedi might think we just kill anyone we want for pleasure but that is incorrect. Most beings have a place in the New Order. The Sith are at the top, of course. Ones like Jando are among the next layer. Look at him. He is brave , strong and loyal. He will go far in the New Order. I am appointing him governor of Al Ashan, he will be confirmed in the Confederate Senate forthwith. We can't afford losing such a one and loyalty should be rewarded. Other, less gifted beings, will have lesser positions. The talentless have their place as well in the New Order. Someone has to do the dirty work so there betters can do the more important things. Do not forget, there needs to be many beings groveling in the dirt to raise those as ourselves to their heights so don't dispose of them that quickly. Of course if they disobey you , you need to treat them as the dirt they are. Simply kill them if they disobey to set an example for others but don't kill them for no reason at all. Who would do all the dirty work if not them? Droids? How does that prove your superiority? You need the masses to grovel in the dirt so you stick out from the common herd and you can't do that when the herd is small. Those who are incapable of doing even simple tasks need to be disposed of in the New Order. They are in the way of progress and need to be gotten rid of. "

He turns to Barris and says "Over time they will become my new apprentices like you. They are beneath you. You are my second in command. They are your inferiors so treat them as such. They must realize that you are my right hand for now. They need to know their place. When you are ready you will train 3 more yourself as will they in turn. They are even more your inferiors and you will have total control over them. You must treat them harshly. I have shown you no mercy so you have to show them none. It will make them stronger. They will remain so until and unless they prove themselves stronger than you. Within tens years or so we shall have a small Academy of Sith. Not too well trained to begin with but you have to start somewhere. The war has ravaged the ranks of the Sith. Ventriss was my last one before she was lured away by the chancellor. I don't know what happened to her then. He devastated my ranks of Sith looking to take over when I was dead. I admit he was a clever Sith. Even I didn't suspect he was one until almost too late."

Grand Admiral Thrawn was frowning. Dooku was even more clever than he thought. He kept hitting the Republic where Thrawn wasn't because Thrawn couldn't be everywhere. He built up his defenses where Thrawn was and put his best generals there which made the going slow and difficult. Meanwhile at the other end of the Confederacy he hit the Republic hard. The new Caterpillar Droids were a surprise. Their speed made up their lack of shielding. The Republic will needed to make more speeder bikes to counter them. The new weapons allowed Dooku take 50 more systems in the last 4 months. Despite his hopes the war was not nearly over and the fate of the galaxy was still in balance.

Ventriss was happy for once. Now that Ahsoka was back in the Jedi Order she started to have a profitable relationship with her. After the incident with Barris Ahsoka was willing to deal with her. She was surprised how things turned out. She felt less hollow with that victory over Barris than when she was a Sith. She usually felt empty soon after her victory and hungry for more triumphs. After that, she just felt peaceful. After she got back to the order she was willing to pay Ventriss for any information she got on the CIS as a bounty hunter. Ventriss got her credits , Ahsoka got her information and both struck a blow against Dooku. It was a bit shady for a Jedi to do, considering Ventriss was considered a war criminal and a traitor by the Republic, but Ahsoka wasn't the only Jedi to cut corners at times. Ahsoka gave her information as well, all Republic fugitives wanted for mass murder, gun running and treason. The bounties paid very well. She felt more at peace than she had felt in a long time. No longer a Sith she found she could let go of some of her hatred. In any case the newest information should really help the Republic. Just because she was getting a bit softer didn't mean she was going to give up on her quest against Dooku. The Jedi had to know what Ahsoka was up to since she didn't have access to those kind of funds. That meant Obi Wan must be overlooking her past. Now that was interesting.

Ahsoka gave the information to Obi Wan and Mace said "Are you sure this is wise , Obi Wan? She was a traitor to the Republic."  
"Maybe so , but she isn't one now. I sense that she has a part to play in the war and it isn't on the side of the CIS. She wouldn't be the first fallen Jedi to redeem herself, look at Revan, and we are not legally required to arrest all criminals. " Obi Wan replies " According to Ahsoka she has been falling away from the Dark Side and I felt that too when I teamed up with her against Maul and Savage. She is no longer a Sith and we don't want to drive her into becoming one." "Perhaps not, but keep an eye on her" replies Mace. "Don't worry about that, I plan to" Obi Wan says. "She is far from free of the Dark Side although it is losing its grip on her. She was a formidable enemy and she has been a useful source of information. Her information has been very useful and accurate" "And expensive" Mace replies. He sighs "You are no doubt right. We certainly don't want to push her into becoming our enemy again. She gave us enough headaches so we don't want her giving us new ones."


	18. Chapter 18

Ione was in a hovercar when Darth Wrath spotted her. _Finally after waiting two whole hours , why do these types always have to be fashionably late? she thought._ Barris held her target in her sights and fired the rocket. Ione's danger sense went off and she force jumped 12 feet into the air and lighted her sabre, unfortunately for her clone bodyguards they had no such senses and were in the car when the rocket went off. After landing she goes straight into force speed and then force jumps again at Barris. Barris is forced back fending off the aggressive attacks. She back flips over Ione and takes the offensive and starts pushing her back. Ione cartwheels away and causing an illusionary sound behind Barris. Barris hesitates for a second but she was prepared for this and shakes it off and goes after Ione again. Ione then force pulls her forward and then force pushes her back again slamming her into a wall. Barris is stunned for a second when Ione charges. She side steps Ione and outflanks her. As she starts running towards Barris two float trucks with a half a dozen clone troopers in them start unloading and start firing at her. Growling in frustration Barris force speeds out of there and force jumps onto a platform where her fighter was waiting. She takes off at full acceleration when 6 clone fighters are vectored into her path. Spinning wildly while the navcom calculates the jump she shoots down two of the fighters before going into hyperspace . _Beaten again she thought and this time I am the one forced to retreat. Count Dooku will not be happy._

Shortly after she arrived and gave him the news Dooku stood smoldering. "Anything to add to your report?" he asks quietly. "No , master but I did my best." He raises an eyebrow "So my spies informed me. I am pulling you off this assignment" "What?!" she cries "With the clone troop protection you are no match for Ione. You can defeat her but not her and the clones as well. Don't compound your failure with stupidity. I am not going to lose my second in command in a suicide mission. We will try again later when the other Sith Apprentices are better trained. I am putting you on a new assignment. Here it is." She glances down "Yes, that seems more doable and could hurt the Republic badly."

Obi Wan addressed the council "I bring troubling news. I am having Anakin and Ahsoka sitting in as this concerns them as well. Count Dooku has abolished the Rule of Two and is recruiting new Sith." Plo Kloon says "That is indeed disturbing news, are you sure." Obi Wan glances at Ahsoka who says "I got the information from Ventriss, she has been giving us information for some time and it always checked out. " "Are you sure you want to trust the news from a former Dark Jedi?" he replies " Former is the key word here, she is no longer a Dark Jedi. She changed and is changing. I don't totally trust her but in this I do. Count Dooku left her for dead and she is none to happy about that." "I agree " said Ob Wan "I fought with her against Maul and Savage and the anger she displayed while fighting them was considerably less than before. She is regaining her balance. " Luminara says "Obi Wan has had me spy on her from time to time to get another opinion on her. She is definitely changing and for the better. She is trying to put the past behind her. She starting to let her hair grow in again which I take as her wanting to change her look as a sign of her changing her ways. More importantly she looks less angry. If her life is getting a little... less disciplined than before or a Jedi should be I think it might work well for her. She has started dating , stays at fancy hotels and eats well. She must increased her exercise periods as she hasn't lost weight. As Ahsoka said she hasn't given us a bad report yet, I think we need to take this report seriously." "I was afraid you were going to say that." Plo Koon says. "Personally" said Anakin "If both Ahsoka and Obi Wan said she has changed that is good enough for me. I trust their judgement . If she is indeed stepping back from the Dark Side I am happy for her. I was too close myself and it was no place to be. I felt miserable. The Dark Side feeds off misery.

 _I am not looking forward to this_ thought Anakin. "Come on, Annie it is time to go. The sooner you go the sooner it will be over with. Ahsoka and I will be right behind you. You can do this." Padme said. "You aren't this nervous before a big battle." says Ashsoka. " Hey, I have done that on numerous occasions and I am used to it. This is different." "Which is why we are both coming with you, Skyguy. It makes it easier." Ahsoka adds.

Rex was drinking ice nalips and read the newest training procedures . He spent the last three days getting shinys up to speed so he less sleep than normal lately and nalips were useful then . He looked up and saw he three entering the room. Anakin says "If you are busy we can come back, it is of a personal nature." Ahsoka rolls her eyes and says "What he means is that he wants to talk to you as a friend instead of your commanding general." He stands up and says "I would be honored to do so, sir . This can wait. "

Anakin says "I never told you why I spent a few months at the temple , Rex." "You don't need to , sir. That is between you and the Jedi Order." Rex replies. "I nearly fell to the Dark Side" Anakin says. Rex looks startled "You, sir?" "Yes, much closer than was safe. I was very close to the edge, Rex . I had a lucky escape." he replies "Palpatine was manipulating him to drift to the Dark Side. He was a master of deception and evil." Padme replies. Rex looks at Anakin "Was he really that bad , sir?". Anakin shudders "He was worse, however evil you think he was he was worse than that. When he died and the Dark Side Energy was released I felt indescribable evil and I knew I did the right thing." Anakin was surprised to see Rex look a bit more relaxed when he spoke "In that case , sir , I don't think you have that much to worry about. He is dead now and if he was as powerful and as deceitful as all that it is no wonder he was able to manipulate you. That is all over now." Anakin shakes his head "He certainly pulled my strings but he couldn't do that if I didn't have them." "You are human, Annie . We all have them." Padme replied

"Well, there was that incident on Tattooine when my mother died. " Anakin replies " So you scared the locals and slashed a few tents, it isn't the end of the universe. You have to get over it. " she replies . He sighed "Yes, you are right." _She never would forgive me if she knew the truth. That I unknowingly used the force to make her hear what I wished were true. I wondered at her lack of reaction at the time. If I told her I slaughtered innocent children she would never see me again._ Ahsoka says "I need your help , Rex. Anakin needs your help." Rex straightens up even more and pays closely attention. "If you see him lose his temper point it out to him and tell him to calm down. Anger leads to the Dark Side. He has come a long way but he is still darker than most Jedi. Just keep an eye on him, OK?" "No problem, if he needs help overcoming the effects of a Sith Lord I am glad to help." Rex says and shakes Anakin's hand "I am glad you asked me to help you. I have always thought you as much as a friend as my commanding officer." "See , I told you it wouldn't be that bad" said Padme exiting the room.

Rex was more worried than he let on. He still admired and respected General Skywalker but he would have to keep an eye on him no doubt. If Anakin got out of control he would be extremely dangerous. Rex had no doubt about that. He mentally cursed Palpatine with every name in the book. The man must have been a real monster , even worse than Dooku. To do something like that to General Skywalker was beyond belief. He had no doubt that Anakin wouldn't have come even close to the Dark Side without Palpatine's interference. He knew he was in for a sleepless night.


	19. Chapter 19

Hana Kanaka looked out the window "Damn, Jandon" she said "We have 20 battle droids headed towards us." " Looks that way" Jandon said "and we have a Sith headed towards our main escape . This cell is lost. I have seen pictures of Barris when she escaped from Republic prison and she is headed this way with 10 battle droids. We have to get you to the ship. Taloth, Camdon and I will cover your escape. I will release the battle droids to slow her down. Their main target will be the Sith. " Jandon said " We need to leave together. " replied Hana "No, we have to get you out. You are the cell leader and our best pilot. We need to talk to the Republic, now go." With a second's hesitation she left to start the starting sequence. Kanaka Robotics was owned by the Trade Federation and did battle droid repair. The big repair shop was almost empty for the weekend. There were only a handful of people here, all Republic spies . The Clone Wars divided planets as well as the galaxy. As in most civil wars there were sympathizers for the opposing side most places. The factory owners were fanatically loyal to the Republic . All of the battle droids were programmed to obey Hana over the Separatists if need be. She deployed 30 the against the battle droids and 20 against Barris. The droids were to come back and support them when they destroyed the other droids. With considerable luck they might just survive.

The invading battle droids had little chance. They were outnumbered and could only come through a narrow doorway as the doors were thick to protect it from any Republic raid or at least that was the excuse, it certainly helped them as well if the Confederacy figured out that they were all spies. The defenders only lost 5 of their number before they went into support. Barris came in lightsabre at the ready. She had to prove herself in this fight, not only to Dooku but herself. Her fights with Ione started to erode her confidence, she admitted to herself. A fight without any Jedi is just what she needed. She waved a hand and 3 of the battle droids smashed into the wall. 3 more went down when their laser blasts were deflected right back at them. The protected battle droids behind her destroyed 5 more. Barris did a back flip and then force pushed 5 battle droids lined up single file in the narrow hallway into each other and the wall destroying them while her support took out the last four leaving one more. She saw the droid reinforcements arriving along with 3 humanoids. Waving her lightsabre back and forth she was able to protect herself and the droids with only one of her droids going down. 7 of the enemy droids were taken out. Barris then pulled the roof down on top of her enemies taking out Taloth and Camdom and 7 more of the enemy droids. One of the shots from Jandon got through and shot her in the arm but it was a flesh wound . In revenge she force pulled him into two of the droids and then force pushed him into 3 more, killing him. The rest of her droids finished off the enemy. She got there just in time to see Hana take off.

Hana took off in a flash. 3 droid fighters gave chase but Separatist droid fighters were cheap while her ship had a few tricks up its sleeve. For one thing she had a totally illegal top of the line R series droid controlling the guns, her shields were upgraded and she was very fast. The droid fighters didn't stand a chance due to her ship and her piloting skills. She was one of the best pilots in the city. She fled as quickly as possible , spinning all the way to avoid incoming blaster fire and calculated the quickest hyperroute to Republic Space. She hit the hyperdrive and was gone. The grief at losing her friends made her break down for a moment but she pulled herself together . She then sent her report to Corescant. It was long and informative. It showed how much the Confderacy was building up on planet. It was slowly but surely turning into a major repair base for the CIS. In the center of the Confederacy it was both well protected and could send repaired droids to any place in the Confederacy quickly.

Altoo H'zar was waiting to drop off the blasters, rocket launchers and sniper rifles to the Sadrim . Black Sun was paying him good credits to do so. He wondered who was paying Black Sun. Black Sun was hardly a charity and revolting slaves had no money to pay them with. There must be some kind of power struggle in the Infinite Empire. Who was fighting who he neither knew or cared. All that mattered was he was being paid and paid well. A couple more runs like this and he would be out of debt to Black Sun. He did want to get out of here though. The area made him nervous. With the planet in revolt it was worse than the Outer Rim! The place he landed was a dump as far he was concerned. It was hot and sooty, a volcanic eruption happened 2 weeks ago but the lava was now cool He hoped another wouldn't happen again soon but he was being paid handsomely and used to risk. . The mountains overhead made it dark and ominous with the shadows now lapping over the ship's entrance. He was going to wait inside his ship until they showed anyways. Finally the dorsal backed red skinned beetle browed Sadrim appeared. Altoo said "OK, 400 blaster pistols, 500 blaster rifles, 5000 blaster packs, 50 rocket launchers with 500 rockets and 50 sniper rifles with 50 clips. All here. You have to arrange transport as I am here only to drop off. " "How do we know they work?" the Sadrim asked. "Pick 4 out at random and test them out in my bay." The Sadrim grabs four and fires them . Altoo wished them luck. The Infinite Empire was a nasty place and its government powerful. Well, that is why it paid well. If they survive he could do a few more runs and not only get out of debt but become rich.

A line of Sadrim filed into the freighter and filed out again carrying the boxes taking them to a nearby shed. In this remote area they were very unlikely to be spotted, they didn't like the volcanic area either but neither did their oppressors. They wouldn't be looking for them here. It took over four hours for his freighter to be emptied. The boxes had to be hand carried as they had no machines to lift them and wouldn't have wanted to make the noise even if they did have them. The Infinite Empire was going to be hit hard tonight on Alix III. Of course this was just the beginning . More slaves would flock to their banner they were sure and they would have more shipments from their benefactor. They weren't sure who was backing them or why so they would have to look out but they couldn't let the opportunity slip by either.

Grand Admiral Thrawn was sitting on the deck of the Freedom's Song. _That should keep them busy_ he thought _I had Republic Black Ops slicers slice into District Leader Shazan's various businesses over the last year and skimmed off unnoticeably small amounts of money from each of the hundreds he owned directly or indirectly and funneled them to a dummy corporation called Alshon Enterprises and then used all that money at once and gave it to Black Sun to ship weapons to Alix III where they will no doubt hit his boss's main weapon factory and a number of his military outposts. The money and weapons will eventually trace back to him and no doubt he will think his largest and most powerful subordinate is about to make his move. He will then try to hit back hard. I will then try to sell him weapons through Black Sun to fight his boss. The Infinite Empire will notice that the weapons are of separatist make. They may well think that the Seperatists are now making their move against the Infinite Empire. At the very least they will investigate soaking up resources and time while at the same moment having to put down a revolt._


	20. Chapter 20

Altoo H'zar was waiting to drop off the blasters, rocket launchers and sniper rifles to the Sadrim . Black Sun was paying him good credits to do so. He wondered who was paying Black Sun. Black Sun was hardly a charity and revolting slaves had no money to pay them with. There must be some kind of power struggle in the Infinite Empire. Who was fighting who he neither knew or cared. All that mattered was he was being paid. He did want to get out of here though. The area made him nervous. With the planet in revolt it was worse than the Outer Rim! The place he landed was a dump as far he was concerned. It was hot and sooty, a volcanic eruption happened 2 weeks ago but the lava was now cool . He hoped another wouldn't happen again soon but he was being paid handsomely and used to risk. He was going to wait inside his ship until they showed anyways. Finally the dorsal backed red skinned beetle browed Sadrim appeared. Altoo said "OK, 400 blaster pistols, 500 blaster rifles, 5000 blaster packs, 50 rocket launchers with 500 rockets and 50 sniper rifles with 50 clips. All here. You have to arrange transport as I am here only to drop off. " "How do we know they work?" the Sadrim asked. "Pick 4 out at random and test them out in my bay." The Sadrim grabs four and fires them .

A line of Sadrim filed into the freighter and filed out again carrying the boxes taking them to a nearby shed. In this remote area they were very unlikely to be spotted, they didn't like the volcanic area either but neither did their oppressors. They wouldn't be looking for them here. It took over four hours for his freighter to be emptied. The boxes had to be hand carried as they had no machines to lift them and wouldn't have wanted to make the noise even if they did have them. The Infinite Empire was going to be hit hard tonight on Alix III. Of course this was just the beginning . More slaves would flock to their banner they were sure and they would have more shipments from their benefactor. They weren't sure who was backing them or why so they would have to look out but they couldn't let the opportunity slip by either.

Grand Admiral Thrawn was sitting on the deck of the Freedom's Song. _That should keep them busy_ he thought _I had Republic Black Ops slicers slice into District Leader Shazan's various businesses over the last year and skimmed off unnoticeably small amounts of money from each of the hundreds he owned directly or indirectly and funneled them to a dummy corporation called Alshon Enterprises and then used all that money at once and gave it to Black Sun to ship weapons to Alix III where they will no doubt hit his boss's main weapon factory and a number of his military outposts. The money and weapons will eventually trace back to him and no doubt he will think his largest and most powerful subordinate is about to make his move. He will then try to hit back hard. I will then try to sell him weapons through Black Sun to fight his boss. The Infinite Empire will notice that the weapons are of separatist make. They may well think that the Seperatists are now making their move against the Infinite Empire. At the very least they will investigate soaking up resources and time while at the same moment having to put down a revolt._

Count Dooku was waiting for the various trade leaders come to his office. _When the plutocratic fools who think they are running the Confederacy are no longer needed they will find out who really is in charge. They will have to be eased out from being on top of the New Order to a high but secondary place. When I conquer the Republic much of its property will be handed over to the commanding generals to reward their loyalty. The wiser and more loyal of the plutocrats will be given government contracts to survive while the fools fall to they wayside._

As they enter he says to them "Your contributions to the government must be stepped up considerably if we are to win this war." Shan Gunray replies "We had a lot of our property stolen by the Republic , Dooku so it is hard to step it up." "And if you want to keep your property "Dooku replies in a stern voice "Not talking about taking it back we have to win this war. If we lose the Republic will steal it all. Don't count on the Republic being as generous in accommodations for you as they were with your cousin, they needed his help to get their hands on his money quickly. If they win the war they won't have to make deals and you are likely to end up executed or at the very least sent to one of the toughest prisons in the galaxy. I guarantee you that you wouldn't last long there. You aren't nearly tough enough to do so." Shan looks down at the floor and says "I'll see what I can do." Dooku replies "You do that, your life might depend on it."

Barris entered the room soon after they left "How long will they last in the New Order? she asks. "Longer than you seem to think. Loyalty must be rewarded. They will be eased into a lower position and if they can accept that they will live unhindered. Also there are a number of our merchant generals that are first class including Mok Tuk and Admiral Trench." "Didn't both fail you against General Skywalker ?" she asks "Losing against Skywalker is hardly that big a mark against them. This is war. The enemy isn't going to cooperate with its destruction so occasional failure has to be expected. Punishing failures that are difficult to avoid is counterproductive. It doesn't increase success but decreases it by making commanders over cautious. They tend to avoid risks and look for scapegoats and we don't want that. General Skywalker is a highly accomplished general with very few losses on his record and has the best military unit in the Republic with the 501st. If I start harshly punishing people for losing to him we will lose the war through over caution and with him was General Kenobi another highly accomplished general Both Tuk and Trench are highly accomplished military officers who happened to go against two of the best generals in the Republic. . No, punishing people for losing to those two would be stupid unless they lost the battle through sheer incompetence which wasn't the case. "

 _Barriss needs to learn that the New Sith are pragmatic. We do everything for a purpose. We don't dispose of useful tools unless we have to because we might need them again. We don't backstab our allies for no reason, that discourages people from allying with you. We don't make up lies that are easily disproved as people will resent it when they find out and won't believe you in the future whether you are telling the truth or not . We achieve things by doing whatever is necessary not by merely creating havoc._

The Republic finally sliced the codes to Chancellor Palpatine's files and sent the pertinent ones to Obi Wan. What he found was disturbing , beneath the Jedi Temple was an old Sith Shrine that the Jedi in their arrogance built over hoping to seal in the Dark Side Energy. The Jedi forgot about it for centuries. Apparently Palpatine found out about it and meditated over it helping the Dark Side grow underneath the temple clouding their vision. The Jedi Temple needed to be torn down and moved elsewhere. Once it is torn down the Dark Side energy will flood the area , which would put the Senate and the surrounding government buildings under its influence so they need to moved as well. _This is going to be expensive_ he thought _I will have to talk to the Republic Senate_.

After talking to Bail Organa Obi Wan was able to get a slot to speak the next day. Bail Organa said "I hate to interrupt our session but Jedi Grand Master Obi Wan Kenobi brings troubling news." Obi Wan, standing next to the chancellor then speaks. "Distinguished Senators I bring troubling news. The Dark Side of the Force has started to arise again." After some alarmed and loud muttering among senators he continues. "The late chancellor Palpatine discovered a Sith Shrine underneath the city and meditated on it. Its evil has been seeping through ever since his death " _and before it_ he thought "and has been getting worse. I fear we must move the temple and all the government buildings. I know it will be expensive but it must be done. I feel that the corruption that plagued the Senate stemmed largely from the Dark Side energy coming up from beneath it. _And normal greed_ he thought. To prevent the return of such corruption the government must be moved at least 200 KM from its current location. It will be costly but it will be for the good of the galaxy. Thank you for listening to me."

There was not much argument about moving the government as no one wanted to look like they were in favor of corruption but there was a heated discussion about where to move it and how to pay for it that lasted for days. Meanwhile the Republic Stock Market crashed. Office buildings near the government buildings went from the most expensive real estate in the galaxy to being worth less than farmland on Tattooine overnight. There was a full fledged financial panic and interest rates were cut in half overnight. Bail took full advantage of the situation refinancing government debt , renegotiating contracts giving more cash up front for lower prices in the long term, enlarging military orders for cheaper prices and in general getting the Republic fiscal house in better shape. Bail Organa was no fool and knew now was the time for the government to get good deals on war materials and he wasn't going to let the opportunity pass by.


	21. Chapter 21

Anakin approaches Padme and starts force choking her. He starts fighting Obi-Wan who takes the high ground . Anakin tries flipping over Obi-Wan who chops off his limbs. He crawls forward screaming "I hate you!" and starts on fire. A short time later he finds himself in a black suit with a black mask. He then sees Padme giving birth and then dying.

Anakin wakes up with his heart pounding and heavily breathing. His eyes are wide as he shouts incoherently. Padme wakes startled out of her sleep and looks at her husband and asks "Is there something wrong or is it just a nightmare?" He looks at her and shudders "More of a vision. A vision of what would have happened if Dooku wouldn't have issued Order 65. It was horrible" "What happened?" "I would have fallen more and more under Palpatine's spell and turned completely evil. I would do such horrible things there would be no going back. Palpatine would have issued Order 66 which would have been close to the end of the Jedi. Not only would I have had not tried to stop him but I would have joined him. Then I would have gone into the Jedi Temple with the 501st slaughtering everyone there , even the children. You try to get me to reject the Dark Side and come back and I force choke you in a fit of anger but you don't die, then. I then try to kill Obi-Wan who cuts off my limbs, then I start on fire. After which I am encased in a black suit with a black mask while screaming in agony. It is a good thing I killed Palpatine as you would not have recognized what I turned into." Padme shudders "I guess not, that is just horrible. I probably would have killed myself in remorse. I am not sure if I could live with myself if I was indirectly tied to such evil." He sighs "You are more or less correct. You die giving birth to the twins as you can't take the shock of both delivering the twins and finding out that I was a Sith Lord . We had a lucky escape." Padme replies "Well, it didn't happen and he is dead so it won't happen. Try to get some sleep if you can. You will have a coupe of hours to play with the twins if you get a good night sleep."

She wouldn't get a good night sleep. She knew that and doubted Anakin would either but the more sleep he got the better. These visions he described were always horrible. Palpatine must truly have been one with the Dark Side to have such an effect on her husband , she was sure of it. At the moment she was glad she wasn't a Jedi because she hated Palpatine now with a fierce hatred and hatred led to the Dark Side. As a non-Jedi her hatred was less dangerous. Still , whenever she got the chance, she wanted to speak to Master Yoda privately. He was always able to help her work things out and she didn't want to worry Annie by talking about her problems with his visions. They were her problem not his and he needed to get these visions off his chest. It helped him when he did so and if they caused her nightmares as well, so be it. She would not let her problems with them stop his improvement. Particularly since he has been improving so well. Master Yoda told her he was well on the way of becoming as light as the average Jedi.

"I am holding you back!" says Anakin _Not this again_ thinks Ahsoka. "It isn't that big a deal. Yoda says you are close to being cured, don't blow it now. I can wait. I am NOT going to abandon you. Not this time." said Ahsoka. Anakin turns to Padme "You told her , didn't you?" "She has a right to know, Anakin! She didn't realize how many times you have had to leave behind people you cared for. First you left your mother, then your father figure dies right afterward, then your mother actually dies and then the Jedi Order seems to abandon your Padawan and she leaves right afterwards. You felt abandoned when she did that. She now knows that. She doesn't want to leave and I don't want her to leave. Until Yoda says you are cured if she leaves , I leave. "

Anakin looks stunned "That must be the first time I heard of a woman leaving her husband if a younger woman leaves!" Padme replies "I am not most women and this is not a normal situation. I know you love me. You have been smitten by me since you were ten! You are attracted to older women, Ahsoka is at least ten years too young for your taste." Anakin replies "True." Padme continues " She is far too moral and likes me far too much for her to have an affair with you, anyways" Ahsoka looks up smiling at her "Thanks". "Most importantly I frankly would rather you have 10,000 affairs rather than have Darth Vader unleashed on the galaxy". She shudders at the thought. "The affairs I could survive. It would be humiliating and depressing but it wouldn't be the end of the Galaxy. Other women have survived their husbands having affairs. Quadrillions of them do all over the galaxy. But Darth Vader I could not survive. If he is even a tenth as evil as you describe it would be the death of me."

"You are scared of me now, aren't you" Anakin replies. "I am terrified about what you might become if you don't make it. You are so close, don't blow it at the last minute. I don't mind a little fear, the danger is probably part of what attracted me." "What?!" he cries. "I have a confession to make , Anakin. I am an adrenaline junkie. " she says "Talk about pointing out the obvious." Ahsoka mutters under her breath "Well, I didn't know it!" Ahsoka stares at him "You really put her on a pedestal, Anakin. It is obvious to everyone else. Her whole life she has been throwing herself into dangerous situations. Isn't that a clue? She likes the thrill of danger. You two are the biggest adrenaline junkies in the galaxy. You get excited in combat, I have seen it . It isn't the death, you are no Sith. It is the danger, it is the rush you get from that you crave. It is why Obi Wan had such a hard time teaching you discipline. It is difficult to be disciplined and excited at the same time. Besides have you ever considered how I feel? You felt abandoned merely because I left the order. I never told you that you should leave my life entirely. Don't you think that might make me feel rejected?" "By the force , you are right. I never considered how it might look to you. I am self centered, aren't I" Anakin replies. "Only when you are like this, you become self doubting and only look at yourself and your problems." Padme says "We have been fighting a bit more lately Anakin, do you know why?" "The war is getting to you." he replies "No, it is because I trust you more. The first few weeks after Palpatine's death I walked on eggshells fearing to do anything to set you off. I knew how dangerous a time it was for you and the galaxy. Now that you are better I am more willing to argue with you. In a bizarre way it is a good sign. It means I am sure enough that you won't unleash evil into the galaxy at large to argue with you. I would never have done this months ago." He laughs "That is one way to look at it , I guess. OK, Ahsoka stays until Yoda and she agrees that she should leave. I don't want her to feel I am pushing her away." _Finally_ thinks Padme.

Bail Organa was having a good week until the report hit his desk. The Republic was pushing the CIS back and Mandalore was being folded nicely into the Republic Government. With their deserved reputations as warriors he greatly preferred them inside rather than outside the Republic. Now this, Count Dooku was recruiting more Sith. As it was signed by Obi Wan himself he had little doubt that it was true. He liked and trusted Obi Wan Kenobi. He had a reputation of great loyalty to the Republic. More and more Bail thought Dooku was almost unique among the Sith Masters. He seemed to be very sane. He didn't execute his subordinates for no reason, he didn't waste money building statues to himself, he didn't conduct pointless political purges, he didn't claim to be a god. This scared Bail greatly although he could not admit it publicly . Dooku was avoiding the most common pitfalls of the Sith and he was brilliant. He didn't realize just how brilliant Dooku was until he was made Supreme Chancellor. He read the writings of Dooku when he could find the time and he had to admit that Dooku was not only charismatic but extremely intelligent. Reading between the lines he saw Obi-Wan thought so as well.

Anakin shouted "Company, attention!" The clones at once went into attention as a man and his wife came down the platform. A clone and his wife to be more precise. "Welcome back, Captain Cody. Civilian life didn't suit you? I thought your restaurant did well." Cody replies "Yes, sir it did. However , I missed my brothers. Even with my wife I am too used to being among my fellow clones. Thanks for coming to my wedding, sir. I know you are busy." Anakin replies "Well, I got Plo Koon to cover me for a while. He knew we knew each other well. Obi-Wan sends his regrets in not being here now but he is involved in a crisis right now. " He looked up at Cody's wife who was a tall , willowy woman named Liz from a low gravity planet. A near human race called the Yarm in which the women averaged 7' tall and the men 8'. Evolved from human settlers that crash landed on a low gravity world they were tall, slender , had orange to red skin, and red to yellow hair . She was tall even for them standing a full 7'6". Despite her great height she was gentle and shy. Sometimes people took her for cold or distant but she was merely quiet until people knew her. When he got to know her better Anakin rather liked her. She was quite different from another orange skinned non-human he knew and liked. He always liked Cody as well. Cody was a loyal, brave soldier who did things by the book. Not quite as commanding as Rex but very competent. Rex's civilian stint would start soon. Although would make sure Rex knew he would back whatever choice he made Anakin hoped he would stay in the army after he got back. He would miss Rex both as a commander and as a friend.


	22. Chapter 22

A shadow slipped quietly past the guards in the night. The woman had long brown hair and blue eyes. In a single bound she jumps 10' onto the roof. Slipping down a rope through the skylight, quiet as a cat she lands on the floor. She sees a guard and uses her hidden stunner to drop him in a heap. She drags him into the janitor's closet she found out about after staking out the place. _One down, two to go_ she thought. She spots the two guards at the door . She kicks one guard into the wall and force pushes the other into the other one. "Go to sleep" she says while waving her hand at the first and he takes a nap. She turns to the other who is recovering and zaps him with the stunner.

Ventriss entered the room where the corrupt crime boss Alka Korin was sitting. He was a Twilek who a local crime boss for Black Sun and had connections with the CIS. He pulls a blaster from his side. "Don't even bother" she says quietly and the blaster flies from his hands. His eyes widen in fear "You a Jedi?" he asks stuttering. "Not quite" she replies "But I imagine you will be questioned by the Jedi real soon. Get up." He gets up and starts running. Ventriss sighs and waves her arm again and he trips over his own feet. She slaps handcuffs on him the moment he gets up. _Well that's an easy 10,000 credits_ she thought.

The Sadrim approached the factory. One of them raises the rocket launcher and fires. The sentry droid is blown apart and another one right next to it is destroyed a heartbeat later. Another rocket blasts open the door as the alarms sound. 3 dozen Sadrim run into the factory. A couple of security droids meet them, raining fire on them. A sniper takes them down with two quick blasts and follows them in. The rebels turn right and are fired upon by an emplaced blaster. 3 of them go down before the sniper manages to get her shot. Another rocket gets them into the transport area. Guards pour around it and their is a real fire fight, a couple dozen rebels fall to the blasts before they take out the 15 guards. The rebels grab boxes of thermal detonators before leaving, leaving the dead behind. Although they morn for their dead the Sadrim don't believe in risking their mission to drag corpses to a funeral. They were dead and no more could be done for them except honoring their sacrifice by succeeding.

Halzan was enraged. Some decrepit rebel group somehow got a hold of serious military weaponry and robbed his factory. They had blasters and rocket launchers. They couldn't do this on their own, they must have had help. He would have to look into this...

Hana Kanaka was now Laura Lanardo and had red hair and green eyes due to a nanotech endued change. She was angry and thirsting for revenge. She lost three of her friends and now it was time for payback.

Rank after rank of droids were lined up for the battle of Rankin IV a major source of Lanth crystals which were useful for hyperwave relays. Coming towards them was a quite large but definitely smaller group of clones. The Republic was able to do a capture and switch Laura with a Confederate Colonel and she sent herself and an entire battalion of droids there. She pressed a button and the whole battalion switched allegiance to the Republic. Attacked from the front and the rear the droids didn't stand a chance. What the Separatists thought would be a bloody but successful battle for them turned into a rout for the Republic. Clonetroopers took full advantage of the chaos in the droid ranks.

 _That was for Taloth, Camdon and Jandon_ she thought _Too bad Barris wasn't her it would have felt good to take her down as well_. She knew she had to get out of here and get back to the New Republic as quickly as possible. It wouldn't take long for the Confederacy to figure out what happened. When it did she had little doubt that their wrath would fall on her. _Time for another makeover_ she sighed _And I was just getting used to this one, but it was well worth it._

Obi Wan formally opened the new Jedi Temple. Although he'd miss the old temple this new one had advantages the old one didn't. The changes he made necessitated a larger, more expensive temple. Now that Jedi could get married there needed to be larger quarters so that the spouse and any offspring would have enough room. The gym was expanded to allow more Jedi to "let off steam" at a given time. The temple was considerably more noisy as there were more children in the place. However, all in all it was worth it. The allure of the Dark Side was falling among the Jedi. Being able to let off stress made the Jedi more inwardly calm as a while. Being married to Luminara made it worth it by itself. He was being biased he admitted. Beneath her cool, calm exterior was a warm, compassionate woman. Married life suited Obi Wan. Although they had their occasional fights , like every other married couple, the good times made up for it. Being openly married helped Anakin greatly he saw. The fact that he had to hide his marriage made Anakin more nervous than Obi Wan thought it would, if he would have known Anakin went that far with the senator. Being openly married calmed Anakin down, that and Ahsoka's help improved Anakin more than Obi Wan would have thought possible. He was well on his way.


	23. Chapter 23

Count Dooku was in a secret Sith Temple with Aran and Oswanda his two new Sith Apprentices. "Isn't it time to reveal ourselves , master? We can take over the CIS and finally turn it into a real empire and soon have the galaxy at our feet after we beat the Republic?" Aran said Dooku smiles "Let us test your theory. In the next room are a large number of battle droids. If you can destroy them all, I believe you may be correct. "

Aran entered the room and saw 10 battle droids there. He destroyed five of them when 10 more entered the room. He was weaving around now , trying to avoid getting hit and deflecting the fire back into the droids. He destroyed 4 more when more battle droid reinforcements arrived , 15 more to be precise. He was tiring now and finally one of the bolts got through and he fell down stunned. Dooku then entered the room "That is the first lesson of the day , my apprentice. A Sith can be beaten when there are too many against him. There always will be trillions of force insensitive beings for every Sith. We can't fight them all. The galaxy is not ready for a Sith Empire yet and we would be defeated if we tried. We need enough beings on our side to win."

Aran replies "Well , we could have lots of battle droids with us" "Not only would that result in a loss of glory, my apprentice" Dooku replies "but they too would be destroyed and we couldn't count on them being reprogrammed without our detecting it until too late." He continues "Besides, despite Jedi Propaganda, Sith are not for power just for power's sake but to put it to good use. Lesser beings must be guided by greater beings. That is the way of things. The Jedi protect lesser beings but that just weakens the whole. It isn't even good for them. Being raised to a positon they don't deserve they get confused and lose their way in the world. You give them responsibility they can not handle. Only those strong in the force are truly able to rule as they are the only ones who know how the universe works. Due to small numbers they do need to delegate authority to lesser beings but they need to pick the best of these. A democracy doesn't do that , it picks the most popular not the best. The galaxy has been ruled by a democratic republic for 20,000 years however, that can't be changed in a day.

Oswanda says "Then how do we save the galaxy from the horrors of democracy and constitute the New Order where everyone from the highest to the lowest know their place in society, master?" Count Dooku replies "We have to undermine it slowly and carefully. Do it too quickly and we will not have a long lasting New Order. It will merely be a short relief before the fall of the New Order and a return to the old. I am too old to see the New Order truly come into being. That is for Barris to do. She is my right hand and my heir. Hopefully she can complete the revolution but it may take even longer. A 20,000 year old civilization can't be changed all at once. Many of the Old Sith didn't seem to know this , but I do." She bows and says "As you say , Master"

Frisa Koofie led a bunch of rebels against the CIS into the building. The building was for building battle droids. The factory was on the obsolete side but that made it easier to hit. A few EMP grenades took care of the guards at the gate. Although there were lots of battle droids the vast majority were inactive as they were incomplete . They had to go to another building to complete their assembly as they needed their robotic "brain" implanted before completion and the shipment for that was due tomorrow.

They entered the building. 3 droidikas came out rolling. Frisa rolled droid poppers one by one inside their shields. The group was surprised how quickly she got the touch in rolling them just right so they got through the shield. A squad of ten battle droids came around the corner. Frisa zapped three in short order with quick shots from her blaster. Lirt slagged a couple more with a shot each from his twin blaster pistols. A Twilek named Rooma nailed another three in quick order while the Rodian Bosti nailed the last two.

Quickly the Rodian planted charges in the room before they went into the next. Warned about the trap that was set to protect the facilities further from the road on weekends and evenings they sidled along the walls avoiding the 4 stunners that would be triggered if the floor was stepped on at the entrance to the room. More chargers were placed here as well. On to the power plant. This one was tough as there were 4 super battle droids. However the rocket launcher took them out although Bosti was killed before the last droid was hit. The four biggest charges were for this room. The team exited the building the way they came and left on a speeder truck. The building went up in pillar of smoke. Frisa was clearly gifted in this and she was on her way up.

Ventriss was coming back from delivering her bounty when an alarm went off in her head and with a snap hiss two red lightsabres turn on. She does a back flip , jumping over a blaster bolt before deflecting a second one back to the shooter. A voice cries out "If you surrender quietly we will let you live. You are worth a lot of money to us." _Fat chance_ thought Ventriss. She ran towards the voice deflecting blaster bolts the entire way , she takes off he man's head force speeds and then jumps over three bounty hunters. She slams one against the wall before she goes after the other two. She guts them both before going after the last two. She slices one head off and points one her sabres at the last bounty hunter before saying "I will let you live if you tell me who sent you." " C-C-Count Dooku p-p-put a 250,000 credit bounty on your head. He says you betrayed him." She laughs "I betrayed him? The other way around from what I remember . I will abide by our agreement and let you live. I will give you some advice , when there is a 250,000 credit bounty on someone's head there is a good reason for it. You are not nearly good enough to pull it off. Now leave before I change my mind." The man , totally unnerved, turns to his heels and runs for his life.


	24. Chapter 24

General Danaz closed in on the 6 remaining Republic Cruisers and 12 frigates most of which had multiple internal fires with his 12 CIS cruisers and 14 frigates. His tri fighters were slashing back and forward doing further damage. Alarms were ringing in all the Republic ships and its Y-wings were being pounded into dust.

Grand Admiral Thawn suddenly dropped in with 18 Republic Cruisers and 24 frigates and took the CIS from behind. Everything was working as planned. He wasn't happy about all the clones being killed but that happened in war. Sometimes people had to be sacrificed for the navy to succeed. Too many admirals in the Republic forgot this in his opinion. People die in war, there was no way to avoid that and sometimes sacrificing more now saves more lives later.

Although the CIS ships were in far better shape than the Republic ones they were pounding they were hardly undamaged and lost scores of tri fighters. Thrawn slammed down on them like a hammer. Quickly finding the most damaged of the cruisers he started pounding them to dust. The hyperdrives were the first thing he destroyed on the rest. The battle soon became a massacre. Although the Republic lost 4 of the badly damaged cruisers and 2 more besides the CIS lost all 12 of its cruisers and 10 of its frigates.

General Danaz escaped the massacre on one of the large lifeboats on board his flagship the Revenge. Much larger and more capable than an escape pod it had room for a small number of officers and even had its own hyperdrive which he used at once. He contacted Dooku right away . "I have grievous news , we lost the Andmark System with 15 cruisers and 10 frigates while destroying only 7 cruisers and 12 frigates. " "I see" Dooku responds calmly "What happened?" "Grand Admiral Thrawn suckered me with an ambush, I am sorry to say" he replies "Thrawn again? I am beginning to loathe that name. Very well, return to the capital for your next assignment, Dooku out. "

Aran says "He failed you again and you are simply going to give him another assignment?" "Who would I replace him with? He is my most competent military officer and he fights. A man like Thrawn is difficult to beat, before I relieve General Danaz tell me who I would replace him with?" replies Dooku. "In major wars battles will be won and battles will be lost, that is the way of things" Barris hangs her dead down and says "Yes, I see that. The enemy will often do the unexpected. I can think of no one to replace Danaz myself although I can check the records if you wish." Dooku replies "No need, my apprentice. Rest assured if I had someone better he would have been replaced. I got rid of Grevious as soon as he proved to be of no more use did I not." She chuckles "You did indeed, master, you did indeed."

Frisa Koofie gathered her compatriots around her "Well, we have done well haven't we?" she smiles. Bosti says "Yes, ever since you joined us." "Yes, it got us close together. We had quite a success. Is everyone here?" she asks He nods his head. "Good" and suddenly a wicked smile comes over her face and a snap hiss of a lightsabre. Everyone is dumbfounded to see Baris Ofie standing before them. "The force is useful for maintaining illusions. You will surrender now or you will die!" As everyone scrambles for weapons a dozen super battle droids and 2 droidika burst into the room. Barris easily deflects a half a dozen hastily shot bolts before they enter completely. Before anyone can do anything else they find their arms grabbed by the superhuman strength of the droids and hauled off.

Baris contacts her master "I am glad to report a complete success master. This whole cell is broken and I have notes on everything I learned which is quite a lot. I have leads to other cells to follow up on and much documentation seized. Mostly copies of receipts of various purchases . We can raid their suppliers at any time. Most, however probably know nothing but the fact they sold the supplies to the spies. The interrogator droids can tell us who is loyal and who is not. My job here is done."

The count smiles "Excellent , my apprentice. You have done well. Trivial though this may seem it gave you much practice in the art of deception and illusion. A Sith must be crafty , the weaknesses of a brute like Maul were proved to your satisfaction I presume. Though not quite as stupid as I imagined him he was no match for me in the long run. Sheer power does not generally prevail over cunning and in my case I had more power and more cunning. Even if he would have had more power it would have availed him little. If nothing else you can use cunning to gain the power, directly or indirectly. Come here at once, I have more to teach you. You will need practice on how to deal with lesser Sith before you train your own apprentices. You can practice by putting Aran and Oswanda in their place. They are not your equals and you must show them this fact. You are my right hand while they have lesser chores." _At least for now_ he thinks _if they prove more useful then you in the future the power structure will be rearranged. We shall see. You may be stronger in the force than they but that isn't everything.  
_

Ahsoka says "Congratulations Anakin, Yoda told me the good news. He pronounced you cured and now I can leave . I imagine I will still see you two still from time to time I hope. However, soon I will have an apprentice of my own and I hope I do as good a job as you did." and grins. "Master Yoda said you can have your time off for the year right now and have a second honeymoon. You deserve it, my old master. So have fun. I am going to spend some time with Lux to see if we are ready to get married ourselves. He asked me twice already but the first time I thought we were too young and the second time because I wanted some time alone with him first to see if it would work out. " She grins again at Anakin and hugs Padme goodbye.

Padme turns to Anakin "I have the perfect spot picked out for us. It is only a mile away from the spot we first got married. I rented a nice house for us for the summer. The owner is on a vacation himself so we have the whole place to ourselves for the summer. No Jedi business, no Senate business just us for once." He smiles at her "Well, that will certainly be a change of pace. When do you want to leave?" She replies "I figure tomorrow night after one last day in Senate. I at least have to tell them why I am taking a leave of absence. I can't just abandon them." He says "Of course, tomorrow night then."


	25. Chapter 25

Count Dooku was not happy . The Jedi seemed to be hooking up all over. Anakin and Padme, Obi Wan and Luminara , Ahsoka and Lux and now some young Jedi named Kannon was hooking up with some Twilek he saved on Ryloth called Hera (I don't think they hooked up that way in canon but I think they make a nice couple and I am writing the story. So there! LOL! ). Jedi did better on the average when they were married according to the data the Sith gathered over the centuries. The Sith took centuries to muck up the data and it took a single Jedi who actually questioned things a day to find it out. Yoda never would have figured it out. For all his wisdom Yoda was very conservative. He relied too much on the accumulated wisdom of the past and not enough on his own observations. Part of it was his extreme old age he was sure. After centuries of contemplation he would have problems adapting to the times he admitted. He had to spend a lot of time himself to read new things to make sure he wouldn't get too set in his ways. That was the only way he was going to adapt to the times in his old age. Yoda did not do that as much. He tended to read the old masters. That was important but times changed since then. The galaxy isn't what it once was, good and bad. The old masters laid a good foundation but then you had to move on. It is also why he picked only young apprentices. They kept him current. It made for a good team, the energy and inventiveness of youth tempered by the wisdom and experience of old age. The youngsters came up with new ideas while their elders made sure it wasn't something that was tried before and failed or too unrealistic in more ways than one.

Take Barris , for instance. She constantly came up with new ideas. Most were without merit but the ones with merit more than made up for it. Barris was impetuous at times but she was far from stupid. She made a good right hand. Her betrayal of the cell was well thought out and was all her doing. She came up with the plan, made the arrangements and executed it without a hitch. Soon she would have to train apprentices herself. The new ones he was training was just the beginning. Within a few years there should be enough Sith to form a Dark Council. He might well not live long enough to see it through but Barris almost certainly would. One mistake Palpatine made was that he was so focused on the Dark Side. Although the Dark Side was more powerful, the light definitely had its uses. The most powerful healing and protection force powers were Light Side. In the end a mix of the two would probably be best. Neither the Jedi or the Old Sith could see that. They were too wedded to the past while, even though he knew he was old, was not. The past was the past and will never come again. However he may well be too old to see the reforms through. He had to teach this to Barris before he died. She was a quite capable girl.

3 men entered the darkened building. Whoever was behind this clearly didn't know who they were dealing with. The security system was taken down in seconds. The men were trained for this, among other things. There were two guards at the entrance to the building , it didn't matter . They went down quickly as a three blasters set on stun went off. The door suddenly blew open the same three blasters went off again and down went the remaining guards went down. A tall woman sat chained to a chair in the back of the room.

Cody says to her "You OK, honey?" . She nods "They didn't hurt me.". He hauls the biggest of them off his feet and slams him into the chair. He says to him "OK, scumbag who put you up to this?" "I am not talking" he replies. Cody looks at him darkly "I think you will. That was my wife and I will get it out of you." Anakin says "Let me handle this. " he then looks at the kidnapper "You want to tell me who put you up to this". "No , I don't" he replies Anakin tries again "You want to tell me who was behind this so I don't leave you alone with Cody here". "The Red Eclipse" he replies. Anakin says go "Go to sleep now" and he slumps. Cody says "This doesn't make sense, Red Eclipse tends to kidnap people with no connections so that they don't get too much attention. " Anakin nods "Dooku must have paid them a lot of money." Cody says "That makes sense but we still have to teach them a lesson so they don't try again." Anakin nods "That we do. If we go after them hard they will think twice about crossing the Republic."

Back in the Temple Anakin explains the situation. "This must be a scheme by Dooku. He means for us to waste manpower fighting Red Eclipse. " Anakin replies testily "We can't leave the clones in the lurch we owe them something." Obi Wan says "I agree, I was just stating Dooku's plan. I can't spare too many men from the 212th and play Dooku's game but I can send a strike team dedicated to hitting back Red Eclipse back for a while. I am thinking Cody, obviously, then you, Rex, Plo Koon and Commander Wolf. That group should be able to hit them hard. " Anakin replies "I can understand the rest but why Plo Koon". Obi Wan says "His fleet was hit hard and in need of repairs. I checked him out and he is not tainted by the Dark Side. How does the team sound to you? " Anakin grins "Small but powerful, I like it!"


	26. Chapter 26

After enlisting Plo Koon's help they go to ask for help from one of the research assistants says "There is someone I think can help us. She is a political science student here on Corescant in Hyson University. She has been here to research the links between the Jedi Order and the Republic Government. She has her faults , I admit. She is overly chirpy, tends to be over ingratiating and tends to be too ready to obey orders unquestioningly. However, she is a nice woman, really means the best for everyone and surprisingly brilliant.

She is a straight A student despite her naivety when it comes to the inner workings of the Republic Government. I think she will go far. Her name is Maketh Tua out of Lothal. She loves her home planet, which frankly is a backwater but is home to her. She will make a first class administrator and , more important for us, is excellent in finding patterns. She will be very able and willing to help you track Red Eclipse safe houses for you."

When they arrive at the university a blonde young woman rushes up and greets them " Ah , Master Skywalker it is a great honor to meet you in person. I have watched your exploits on the holovid with great interest. Major Rex, I have seen your accomplishments as well. You have done a great service for the Republic. " Anakin thinks _Well he got that right. I don't mind a little respect but this is over blown. I am a real life person not a holovid hero. By the force they exaggerate things. Oh well._ " Thank you , I don't want to be rude but we are a bit in a hurry. Red Eclipse needs to pay a price for their actions and if we give them too much time your data will be out of date."

She replies "Right, slaver scum like them need to be taken down. We have had more than one citizen of Lothal taken captive by slavers. It makes my blood boil". Anakin thinks _Someone who feels that way about slavers can't be all bad. Master Ploon said she was gushy but a good person. I think he is probably right._ "I can't agree with you more Ms. Tua. We need to bring this scum to justice as soon as possible." She smiles "Thank you. I have three locations here on Corescant and one on Lothal. I know that to most Lothal doesn't mean as much as Corescant but it is my home planet and I want it wiped out there." Anakin nods and says "I understand. Where the locations?"

"Well, the three locations on Corescant are in the Slum Areas. 123 Bleeker Street, 743 Alison Road and 458 Tatooine Drive. On Lothal they are hidden in the wastes at Garrison Gorge . I will give you map with all locations circled in red." Anakin replies "Thank you. If they move out of the location contact me at once. Here is my comm number. I give you my word as a Jedi that we will help you get them off Lothal as well . It is the least we can do." He then gives her a winning smile. She smiles back "Oh my, a promise from a Jedi. That is an honor."

After they leave the building Anakin grins at Rex and says "Well, you can't say Master Ploon was wrong with her! A bit heavy on the hero worship , don't you think?" Rex replies "True, but Master Ploon is rarely wrong on these things. He is a great Jedi Master. He was probably right about her being a nice person as well. The only doubts I have are about her competence but we will find out."

After arriving at the scene Anakin looks through his goggles and spots 3 Gamorians all carrying blasters. 3 more guards were on the second floor with rifle blasters. He passes the goggles to Rex who says "It does look like we are hitting the right place. Maybe she knows what she is talking about after all. I think the best plan is to throw a smoke grenade into the entrance and then go through the door. You in front and Master Ploon in back. Sorry about your the delay to your second honeymoon. " Anakin frowns "Well, it couldn't be helped . We are merely delaying it a couple weeks to a couple months. I mean to hit them fast and hard. We can't allow them to get away with doing that to Cody. Padme understood, she likes you both now that she met you. "

They make their way towards the front door when Anakin nods. Rex throws the smoke grenade and the three Gamorians soon go down before they know what hit them. The next room contained a dozen slavers going for their rifles. Rex blasts two of them in a heart beat with his pistols and Cody guns down another. The Jedi block the bolts from the remaining slavers but one shot gets through nailing Cody in the arm. Rex gets really mad and nails another two before you can blink. Although somewhat wounded Cody is tough and the armor stopped most of the damage and grunting in pain he nails another one. The half dozen left drop their weapons and surrender to Anakin. He gestures to the side with his light sabre and they move to it. He says "Rex, cover them to make sure they don't escape while I go upstairs with Master Ploon to take ones upstairs.

Going up the stairs they run into the guards coming down. Anakin takes all four of them down and Master Kloon follows. Inside they find a dozen beings locked up for transport. A couple look really beat up. He uses his comlink to talk to the police. He says "This is General Skywalker. I have some slaver scum for you to pick up here at 123 Bleeker Street, send an ambulance as well as a couple of the kidnap victims appear to need medical assistance. Skywalker out."

The group takes care of the other two slaver hide outs on Corescant and head back to the university. Anakin says to Tua and says "On my way to Lothal I had to stop by and thank you in person. You have preformed a great service for the Republic and the Jedi and you probably will go far. " Her eyes go wide for a moment and says "Oh my, it was no trouble at all" Anakin replies " You still deserve our thanks. One word of advice though, try to dial back on the hero worship. Remember we Jedi make mistakes as much as any other sentient. I have to go now, we have slaves on Lothal that need rescuing."

When they land on Lothal Anakin says quietly "What a dump, reminds me of Tattooine. The one here will be harder to trace. We know they are in Garrison's Gorge but that is a less pinpointed area than a street address. I was able to send some Republic Intelligence ahead. "

Even out of uniform Rex and Cody stood out. As clones of Jango Fett their faces were well known. They thought of using nanites to change their looks like Obi Wan did infiltrating Count Dooku's supposed plot to capture Chancellor Palpatine but decided to use them as a distraction instead. It worked, after going to a half a dozen dingy bars on the other side of the bar from the clones they were able to pick up bits and pieces of the puzzle on where the slaves were.

The cave was well guarded by a dozen gangsters and a big repeating gun. There was no cover to hide in. Anakin says "I don't like this. By the time we carve our way in there Red Eclipse will probably have escaped. I hate to say this but it is time to contact Tua's contact in Lothal Security and hope they are really honest. I trust her but she is too trusting herself. But it can't be helped we can't allow them to escape. "

A half hour later Lothal Security went in via drop ship. They seemed quite professional. They weren't up to clonetrooper standards, of course, but they were more than a match for the slavers. Tua apparently picked her contact well as they were taken and the slaves freed. Security were somewhat abusive to the prisoners but Anakin didn't care. He figured slavers deserved whatever they got.

Author note : This is indeed minister Tua as a young woman. I think she is a "Good Imperial" as you never see her do anything immoral and the people of Lothal are genuinely upset over her death. That is unlikely if she were incompetent or brutal


	27. Chapter 27

"Company attention, general on deck.!" shouted Waxer "At ease" said Ahsoka Tano " I am glad Generals Skywalker and Kenobi were willing to give me half of their troops for the 201st. Since I know most of you I won't have to get up to speed on that right away while they are more experienced and can deal with new troops easier than me at the moment. I just hope I can fill the shoes of Skywalker and Kenobi. They are among the best generals in the Republic and the best friends one can ever have. Our first mission is supposed to be a relatively easy one, relieving a garrison on Christophsis. We have been there before and know what to expect. It is a crystalline world with several major and beautiful cities. The 603rd under General Canth is there now. Any questions? If not now we leave."

Anakin returned from his second honeymoon with his wife. Although late , it was well worth it. The twins were growing up being 4 years old now. He found out that Padme was pregnant again, this time with triplets. It seemed that Padme was prone to having multiple births. Well, he liked kids so that was fine with him. His only regret was missing a lot of time with them due to the war. Obi Wan and Luminara couldn't have kids together, of course, but they could adopt. They adopted a human boy named Ben and a Mirialan girl named Oosis, both of whom were force sensitive. Due to the "Kenobi Reforms" they had to be orphans but with the war on that wasn't particularly difficult to find. The Jedi were expanding again. The new reforms made it possible for new recruits to be brought in as adults and parents didn't try to fudge their kids midichlorian counts so as to keep their kids. Apparently being force sensitive was much more common than the Jedi thought. A full one in ten thousand beings were force sensitive which meant there were absolute hordes of potential Jedi, far more than needed or even handle. He was considering the possibility of allowing one master to train more than one Padawan at a time.

After she landed she soon wished she had General Skywalker with her. Soon after she took over a large group of droids came out of seemingly nowhere to attack her troops. Her first command as the overall commander and she suffers from an intelligence failure. _Typical_ she thought. This time she couldn't count on Skywalker bailing her out if she got in trouble. She took a deep breath. _Everyone is nervous in their first overall command_ she thought _I am no different from everyone else_. General Skywalker said he was nervous in his first battle, at the time she wasn't sure if she believed him he always seemed so brave on the field. She looked around, if she could just lure the droids into the right place. "Waxer" she said "send one squad to the Laxas Building and another to the Shanas Building then have the troops engaged fall back to the Lanson Building" Waxer nods and says "Yes, general." He gets on his comm link "Alpha squadron to the Laxas Building , Delta Squad to the Shanas building. Gamma once the other two squads confirm the are in position fall back to Lanson, now go!"

The droids fell into the trap and once they do Ahsoka says " Walker Squad Alpha , deploy beside the Lanson Building on both sides." They deploy as ordered and after a battle that lasts most of the day they finally are able to drive back the droids. _Skywalker would have come up with something more clever_ she thought glumly _but still we won_.

She stepped into the command room and cheered up as Captain Waxer said "Not a bad first day, was it general? Not every general starts their career with a victory". Ahsoka replies "True, but I feel General Skywalker would have done better." "Possibly" he replies "but you can't continually compare yourself with Skywalker. Using him as a model may be a good idea but you can't kick yourself if you can't meet that standard. He is one of the best generals in the Republic so it is going to be very hard to match him. I can also guarantee you he wasn't as good as he is just out of the gate as you are now."

Anakin was in a cheerful mood. Family life suited him. Growing up with neither a father or siblings it felt good to be part of a growing family. Anakin had doubts that he was a good father. People said he was but he often felt unsure and was sometimes over lenient or overly strict. He felt he was overprotective at times. Padme told him not to worry about it and that all parents felt unsure and that they all made mistakes. Kids usually grew up fine regardless of that.

Their vacation was heavenly as he could take a break from the war. Too many people had died on both sides. Over the years he lost many friends both clones and Jedi. Too many people in the galaxy saw the clones as interchangeable but he never did. The clones were too obviously individual. Anyone who can't tell the difference between Rex and Cody and Waxer and Boyle after talking to them were blind beyond belief. Anakin decided that although their were many good people in the galaxy there were also good many idiots out there. Well vacation was almost over and there would be a battle that needed winning . Although he didn't enjoy the blood he did enjoy the winning. A Jedi had to at least try to be honest with himself and that aspect of him was too strong to hide. Despite the bloodshed he really enjoyed the winning.

Count Dooku was in a foul mood. The Kenobi Reforms were working. The number of Jedi was increasing at an alarming rate. Most weren't ready to go for years but he had a feeling this war would take years and he wasn't getting any younger. It seemed increasingly likely he wouldn't be able to live long enough to see the final defeat of the Jedi if it ever came. Barris was coming along well but she still was so young.

The war was stabilizing which was not good. The CIS and the Republic were at a complete deadlock at the moment which was a bad thing for the CIS. The Republic's economy was so much larger than that of the CIS it was bound to win in the long run if the Republic used its head which , sadly , it was. Kenobi might have exited the stage but Skywalker was still around and he was a better general than Kenobi. Then there was Thrawn. Thrawn showed far too much in his reports for Dooku's liking. Despite his lack of force abilities Thrawn was an even bigger threat than Skywalker. He was not at all happy about Ahsoka's promotion. As Skywalker's apprentice she would no doubt have the skills. He tested her on Christophsis and she handled it all to well. He wasn't surprised, she was a determined young woman with fairly high intelligence under the apprenticeship of the most talented general in the Republic. Her earlier youthful over eagerness was gone now, tempered by age and experience.

The count decided to read to break from the war for a while. He was quite studious by nature. He didn't get where he was by being stupid or ill read. He continued reading some of the writings of Darth Plaugus and saw something that piqued his interest.

Barris was less worried than the count. She was too busy training new apprentices. The Sith saw no reason to teach only one student at a time and didn't spend as much time on philosophy as the Jedi. She had no less than a half a dozen students under her. They were learning fast and would ready in about 3 years time for the first Sith Council, ready to take over when the Republic fell.

They weren't ready as far as force abilities were concerned but increasingly ready intellectually. Althogh they didn't study as much or as widely as the Jedi the Sith did study and in more than the force. You couldn't run an empire by merely using force abilities. You had to know something about government, economics , military and political organization . The Sith were far more intellectual than they were given credit for being. They spent almost as much studying as the Jedi and were far more focused. The Jedi often spent time learning things like medicine , biology and the arts while the Sith were considerably less inclined to study things outside of things that helped them grow in power. Barris knew Dooku was grooming her to take over when he was gone. Considering his age she had no plans for overthrowing him. He would soon be dead of old age anyways so why take the risk? That would risk a great loss of face and he would groom another number 2 if she lost. For the moment she was quite willing to wait until he died.


	28. Chapter 28

_Today is the day thought_ Barris _I have everything set up_. She arranged Ione's clonetrooper guard with her own men by quietly killing them and replacing them with her own using nanites to change their faces. Aside from that the armor made them indistinguishable anyways. Although they surrounded Ione they would not fight her, Barris wanted to settle this herself. A one on one duel where no one had any backup. She realized she was taking a risk but it was worth it for her. After all the struggle she had to do it herself to feel satisfied.

Shortly after getting off the elevator to the ground floor Ione found herself alone. The clonetroopers did not get off the elevator when she got off but went up again. Ione was no fool and realized something was up and was none too surprised to see Barris coming for her. "You arranged this I suppose." she asked. "Of course, this has to be settled one way or another, and you don't have clonetroopers to back you up now." Barris came at her , twirling in the air , her lightsabre flashing. Ione backflipped out of the way and force yanked Barris towards her. Barris was able to break the pull and somersault over her head. Ione spun to the side kicking outwards. Barris's lightsabre went through the top of Ione's head as she back-flipped over her.

 _I finally did it_ Barris thought _after three long years I finally took her out_. Ione proved much more of a match for her than Maul ever was. Unlike Maul , Ione had plenty of brains. Maul might not have been quite the idiot everyone thought he was but he was still dumb for a Sith. He was clearly a placeholder for Dooku. Dooku may be old but he has brains. Brains Maul clearly lacked. Barris had no desire to see Ione return from the dead like Maul did so she put a thermal detonator on top of the body and blew it to bits.

There was an official three day period of mourning on Mandalore on the death of their Prime Minister. It was clearly an assassination by the CIS. The Mandalorian People were outraged and Ione became a martyr to the Republic and Mandalore. Chancellor Antilles gave a eulogy in her honor. Mandalore now truly entered the war on the side of the Republic and Mandalorians were lining up to join the GAR.

Dooku sat in his office watching this and realized he made a grave error. He let his anger and frustration get the better of him and made Ione into a martyr. He knew he had no one to blame but himself. Unlike the late chancellor Dooku was not delusional and was fully capable of admitting to himself when he screwed up. He couldn't blame Barriss as she did what she was told. _Well_ he thought _I better congratulate her_. He would need to think of how to spin this. In any case he would return to reading Plaugus. _Plagus might have gotten better results if he looked at the Light Side as well as the Dark_ Dooku thought.

 _Everything is falling to pieces_ thought Emperor Zaltz III The Infinite Empire was on the march when civil wars started breaking out everywhere, apparently being supplied by a power called the CIS. After attacking them we found out it was a power called the Galactic Republic . It was too late now. The damage was too deep. The Infinite Empire broke up into scores of factions with the enemy seeming to know exactly who and how to rile up and raise the standard to become the new emperor. Whoever was behind it was good at his job. That was for sure.

Grand Admiral Thrawn was pleased. The Infinite Empire was falling apart and the Chiss Ascendancy was totally untouched. He was saddened by the loss of life in the Republic and CIS but it couldn't be helped . Despite his reputation for ruthlessness he preferred the number of deaths to be as low as possible. Now that the true enemy was in chaos he was duty bound to turn his focus towards the CIS. Unlike the Republic he saw the war with the CIS as a side show, although he never let on to that fact...

Count Dooku was not pleased. The Republic seemed to get new forces out of nowhere and was starting to turn the CIS back. That was really bad. Dooku knew perfectly well that the Republic was stronger. The stalemate was bad enough but being forced back made the Republic stronger by the month and the CIS weaker. Dooku started to make plans on what to do if the CIS was defeated. As far now he kept reading Darth Plagus. He saw a possible shortcut that Plagus never seemed to think of .. or perhaps mention. ...

Maketh Tua was sitting at her desk at the logistical department of the GAR. She was a civilian worker who tracked shipments to and payments from the GAR. It was an important post for someone her age as she was straight out of college. However, a recommendation from General Skywalker went far. She was good at her job. She was good at facts and figures and took to the bureaucracy as if she were born for it. She started noticing patterns lately. Patterns that disturbed her, that suggested fraud. She looked at one last file before making the connection. She would need to tell General Skywalker about this!


	29. Chapter 29

General Skywalker enters the room and says "What have you got for me , Maketh? I know it must be important otherwise you wouldn't have summoned me. " Maketh replies " I noticed a pattern. There is a company called Anzo Enterprises that sells a lot of logistical supplies to the GAR. The prices seemed high to me but the markups looked reasonable until I dug into the numbers. They have appeared to set up a number of shell companies as subcontractors to inflate the prices. They have used up to six companies to sell things to the GAR inflating their prices by about 5% on each sale thus inflating the price about 34% on top of their other shenanigans. It is hard to say but I think the GAR is paying them about half again what they are worth. They are providing things that aren't sold on the civilian market such as weaponry and military transport so it is harder to see. It resembles in some ways the Czerka Scandal which caused the Kybar Period and the demise of Czerka. Czerka was one of the most corrupt corporations in Galactic History. It was into slavery. It worked with the Exchange. It had its own employees killed if they talked about their corruption and worked with the Sith out of Koriban. After this came out the senate elected a Jedi as chancellor as they thought he would be less likely to be corrupt.

Jedi Chancellor Odo Oozma , in his arrogance, decided to remake the Republic Economy based on what he thought was the Will of the Force. He said the economy would be as pure and clear as a Jedi's lightsaber emanating from a Kybar Crystal. He tried micromanaging the economy via the Jedi Temples using the force as a guide resulting in the collapse of the economy and the lowest popularity of Jedi in Galactic History. Hard to believe but there was actual starvation even in the Core Region. This is almost unheard of in advanced economies as they know how to plenty of food and have birth control when needed. The Jedi never completely recovered from that farce.

The result was an overcompensating swing towards free markets that resulted in the near plutocracy we had until recently. The economy did recover after the Chancellor was ousted but it had no where to go but up. The marked improvement caused people to go overboard in the other direction. Chancellor Organa and Antilles have both been trying to swing it back the other way but have to be careful . The last thing they want to do is to have people think that the galaxy will return to the Kybar Period."

Anakin replies "True enough, but politics is Bail's problem. Mine is warfare, sad to say. Hopefully this damn war will be over soon and I can spend more time with Padme and the kids. You did a good job. The boost in supplies will help greatly. Chancellor Anilles will certainly be happy to save the money. This war has cost enough without greed making it cost more. Thrawn has been pressing the CIS hard lately and we are really going through the supplies."

Barris was in a good mood. She was gaining power as she expanded the Sith Order under Dooku's guidance. They took only disgruntled Jedi or former Jedi. They didn't have the time to teach them the basics. They need to learn Sith Law and Sith History along with fueling their skills using the power of the Dark Side. IF they were to help rule the Sith Empire they had to know the philosophy used by the government. She took in a number of losers from Agricorps .Although not powerful they were the most disgruntled of the Jedi being rejected as weak by the Order and thus the easiest to turn to the Dark side. Although she did not tell them this she considered them disposable fodder. Still they were more important than non force users. Non force users had to be guided by force users as they were too limited to rule themselves.

Dooku would soon be dead she was sure. It wouldn't be by her hand. She saw no reason to risk her power base, the completely deadly nature of Sith power struggles was another Jedi Lie according to Count Dooku, by challenging him. He was old and certain to die soon , he was getting close to 90 after all. She could bide her time until he was dead.

Count Dooku was looking over prison records. He wanted to make sure the people he used in his experiments were both healthy and not be missed. Murderers, rapists and terrorists could have very physically healthy bodies to experiment with. Using his notes Dooku was able to progress far quicker than Plaugus was ever able to. Plagus made a foundation Dooku could build upon.

This speciman was a female Gungan by the name of Larsa Binks, 3rd cousin to Jar Jar. She was a mass murderer who killed at least 14 people. Completely psychotic she claimed that voices in her head told her to do so. That she was a divine instrument of death . She was chosen by the force to deal death to whomever she thought the force told her to kill. 8 of them were children so she really wouldn't be missed. The Gungans wanted nothing to do with her and were very loud about how she was an embarrassment and better off dead. She was condemned to death and the public would be told her fellow inmates killed her before she made it to the execution chamber. That would be believed. Even most criminals despised child killers and he knew of more than one case where that happened. Her death would extend his life. He discovered a way to retard aging by draining a person's life energy and giving it to himself. In time he should be able to not only retard aging but reverse it. ...


	30. Chapter 30

Asho Kaelin , head of Red Eclipse, was sweating. That contract on Liz Roberts was a mistake. He was suckered he had no doubt. The contact did not mention the fact she was the wife of a clone trooper. He would have never taken the contract if he did, particularly the wife of a clonetroooper as famous as Cody! He was the favorite of General Kenobi himself and was featured in several war holodramas. He sighed. The Jedi and the Republic Government were bad enough but that was just the start. Black Sun, the Exchange and the Hutts all sensed his weakness and were muscling in on his territories. More than one of his cells changed sides as they saw his position as hopeless.

He heard a noise outside. it was Republic Troops. They were coming through his doors. His men would hold them for a while, but not long. Already he heard the sound of blaster fire and bodies hitting the floor. He doubted it was clonetroopers. His men were no match for them and he knew it. He would have to use his secret exit , made long ago. It was a secret door that led to the sewers. It was smelly but at least he would live. The stench was overwhelming but he was able to overcome it. He turned the corner and ran right smack into the Twin Suns of Tattooine.

Carib Angling spoke first "I knew you would come this way when the troops came through your front door. Your second sold out two months ago and you didn't even know it. He works for me now. It is time for you to decide if you want to do so yourself. Red Eclipse is dead but you have a few contacts I could use. You were finished the moment you took the captain's was foolish of you. "

"I know, I should have checked it out more. The pay was too good for the job. I have been thinking of that all this time. I never knew who she married. I was set up. Probably by the CIS as they benefited from it. Considering the circumstances I will join you. It is better than death. I will use my contacts to help you. Did you call the cops? " he replies.

"Of course" he smiled back " What use are cops except for help crushing your rivals? Their captain is on my payroll. They called in the clones. Captain Rex wanted to make sure it was taken care of by clonetroopers" Asho nods back " Makes sense. Very well lead on."

Note: Things like this are more common than you might think in RL folks. There truly is no honor among thieves. At best they are loyal only to their family and gang members.

The Jedi Temple antechamber was crowded with Jedi and honored guests. In attendance was Padme Amidalla, Bail Organa, Chancellor Bail Antilles, Senator Mon Mothma, Senator Garm Bel Iblis and others. The atmosphere was unusually joyous for a Jedi Temple. It had a much lighter feel to it than the stoic setting usually was. Obi Wan spoke "After years of trials and setbacks, accomplishments and failures , victories and defeats it is a great pleasure for me to grant the title of Jedi Master to Anakin Skywalker. His path here has been a hard one with many difficulties along the way. This makes his accomplishment all the more impressive. After all this it is the unanimous decision of the Jedi Council to grant him the title. Congratulations , Anakin. As your former master and long time friend I am very proud of your accomplishment."

Anakin turns to the crowd "Thank you Obi Wan for your kind words. It has indeed been a long road and I have made errors along this path. Without the help of my friends among the Jedi such as Obi Wan, Ahsoka and Yoda along with my wife and children and members of the 501st I would never have made it. My main early failings were due to arrogance. Strong connections with the force does not , in and of itself, give wisdom. You must learn to listen to the force not try and make it do whatever you wish. That is the way of the Sith and unfortunately I started down that path during my younger days. I was headstrong and rash. Overeager to make it to Jedi Master. I now know that , despite my arrogant assumption otherwise, I was not ready. I had the power but not the wisdom.

I turned back from that road with the help of my fellow Jedi, my wife and children and many other non-Jedi friends such as Rex, Cody and other great clones I have known over the years. The first of the non-human clones are due to enter the Grand Army in a couple years. Hopefully there will be no need for them on the front line because the war will be over but if not I am sure they will do as fine a job as the Fett Clones. I have met a few of them over the last few years wanting to see the up and coming clones. They are humans, and Wookies and Bith and Twileks and many others. Like serving the Jedi , serving the Republic should not be limited to one species. I thank you all for coming to this ceremony." He flashes everyone a smile as goes over to his best friends outside the council.

Ahsoka smiles at him "Nice speech , Skyguy. Nice and short which most people like." He grins "Yeah, people don't want to listen to me all day. " Padme comes up to him and hugs him "Congratulations, Annie. I always knew you had it in you!" Rex comes up to him and says "Me and the boys from the 501st got you this . " He hands him an outfit in stormtrooper white. Although not strictly speaking stormtrooper armor it did resemble it in some ways. Anakin shakes his hand and says "Thanks , you really put some thought into it. I have always been proud about leading the 501st. You are among the best people in the galaxy." Rex stands at attention, grins and says "Thank you, sir"


	31. Chapter 31

Barris enters the room and sees Count Dooku and she notices that he looks a lot younger. He says "I have summoned you to teach a new power I have discovered. It won't help you much now but wait a few years it will come in more than handy. I have learned how to drain people of life to become younger. I will now start teaching it to you. You will have to be careful with it at your age. You don't want to wind up a little kid but you will need some practice. I have sent for some criminals. You will have to observe what I am doing. In a shorter time than you might think it will be very useful to you."

Barris has mixed feelings over this. Unending youth is more than tempting but this makes it harder than ever for her to take over. She will have to start planning for that. Right now she is no match for Dooku and she knows it. Besides she needs to learn that power first. She wasn't going to take a risk of killing by accident until she knew. She knows she prefers immortality to power. Power doesn't help you after you are dead.

Ahsoka was in her cabin feeling depressed when Waxer came in. "I figured you would be in here, General Kenobi told me how this day effects you. Your first command." She sighs "And I blew it, my first squadron almost wiped out due to my arrogance. I thought I could get through and General Kenobi would lose less clones. I figured I might lose a few more clones myself but Obi Wan would lose far less. I thought I knew better than General Skywalker , what was I thinking?" Waxer replies "It was your first command, you were nervous and trying to cover up your nervousness with bravado. Happens to the best of us. You are a much better commander now than you were then." She sighs "I know, it is just that the disaster is seared into my brain. By the force I can't wait until this war is over. The one thing I will miss is you clones. Who knows , I might even stay. You people have really grown on me and the New Republic will retain a military after the war. We can't risk another civil war. " "I think that is a terrific idea, you are a great commander and war or no war the Republic always needs them

After the ceremony Anakin stepped up to Ahsoka and Lux and said "Congratulations you two, I hope your marriage is as happy as mine. I find that marriage suits me. The one thing I missed when growing up was a family, now I have a decent sized one. I actually get along quite well with my in-laws and I have five kids. The only problem is the war keeps me from them. It suits Obi Wan as well and I am sure it will suit you as well Ahsoka." He says to Ahsoka saying "I have always seen you as the little sister I never had." _He looks meaningly at Lux_ and then turns back to Ahsoka. " Even when we were fighting, siblings fight all the time , right?" She shrugs "I guess so. In any case like Obi Wan we will have to adopt. No shortage of orphans during a time of war, sad to say. " "Well, the good thing is the war is starting to turn. Our navy outnumbers theirs and we are starting to take more planets than we lose. I don't know how long it will take to win but we have won. It remains to be seen when that dawns on the Separatists."

Count Dooku says to Barris "At the moment we are losing the war and must take radical measures. It is time to form the Sith Council to provide better guidance. At the moment it won't be in charge of the government officially but with my position as head of the CIS Senate I can put its plans into motion. We are going to need a shadow minister of war, navy , treasury and state. We will also have to find more potential Sith and train them. Much of the training will fall on your shoulders. Even more radically it may take both sides of the force to defeat the Republic. The Light Side is quite useful for defense and healing which are things the Dark Side is weak on. About the only healing you can do using it is to drain the health of other living beings. Useful, but not always practical. Jedi have ways of resisting it and it is difficult to do at a distance. Jedi healing is more flexible and can be done at any time. So while you are training I am going to look for Sith to be part of the Shadow Ministry and learn of ways to blend the dark and the light."

Count Dooku says "This Shadow Ministry will come to order. Darth Wrath what are your recommendations for the army?" Barris answers "I think we need to decrease our production of super battle droids to make more battle droids and commando droids. We need the numbers and the commandos might be able to gain us a planet or two with guile. We aren't going to be able to do so in a conventional war." Dooku raises an eyebrow "You are coming along well, I agree. We can not pretend we are not on the losing side at the moment which will take drastic measures to redress. Unconventional thinking is the key."

"Darth Terror what are your recommendations for the navy?" Duku adds turning to face a Twilek "More stealth scout ships and fighters. Maximum surprise is called for. Hit and run raids and the like. Get past their outer defenses and hit their capital ship construction yards." Dooku replies "Bold, a bit too bold. We aren't in that desperate a shape yet. The defenses their are extreme. Hit their light ship construction yards first. They are less guarded and without light ships the heavies are vulnerable. They will adjust to that and may be forced to make their capital ship construction yards more vulnerable."

He gives a meaningful look to Darth Shrill who was Shadow Treasury Minister "We need to raise taxes, I also recommend secretly hiring pirates to hit Republic merchant shipping. Split the proceeds fifty-fifty and keep an eye on them to make sure they aren't hitting our shipping. We can use the cash and it will hurt the Republic. A bit iffy but we need to take risks"

Dooku muses "True, just make sure it doesn't get traced back to us. In fact I think this should be done through the Sith Council not the CIS officially. We tell them about vulnerable Republic convoys and split the loot. Officially the CIS had nothing to do with it. What they don't know can't be traced back to them. That leaves State."

Darth Tremblous says "Now that the Mandaloreans are firmly Republic I think it is time to go for the Hutts instead. Assassinate Jabba and install a pro-CIS one in his place. A minor Hutt Lord named Globbo would do I think. With our backing he can make it onto the council with the right bribes and he has lots of ties with the Trade Federation and Techno Union."

Dooku nods "The Hutts are a big enough power that it can shake things up. They aren't going to tip the balance by themselves but they could be an important piece. Assassinating Jabba won't be easy. We might have to send a few assassins to do so. 4 Sith assassins might do the trick."

The meeting goes on for hours in boring detail. However, by the end of the day they have several plans. 


	32. Chapter 32

"What is your problem?" asked Anakin Skywalker . "Nothing." said Ahsoka tersely. "It isn't nothing, you have been short with me all day. " he replied. "It isn't because we are coordinating our attacks and I am the senior general. I think you are doing a fine job with your troops!" She said "Thanks, it isn't that."

She sighs "The first day of my honeymoon was a bit tense. I guess I blamed you a bit for it." "Me, why? I wasn't even there!" Anakin replies. "Lux watches too many holofilms and you saying you always thought of me as a younger sister unnerved him a bit. To be fair it wasn't just you, it's me . I think I just should have said yes the second time. He has the kind of hero worship thing you have with Padme." " Padme doesn't worship me!" Ahsoka laughs "No , it is the other way around. I think you will always wonder if you are good enough for her. I think it comes from you being an ex-slave and her being a queen the first time you met. The same with Lux and me. Because I am a Jedi he will always wonder if he is good enough for me, partly because of those dreadful holovids. " Anakin grumbles "By the force those things exaggerate ! It might well be good for hometown morale but it can be aggravating. If they want to create another Exar Khun this is the way to go. Have the younger Jedi think way too much of themselves. The force knows I did. That is part of what caused me trouble. I don't mind good press but the idealization of some of these vids cause problems themselves. Still there isn't much we can do about it. "

"I have another problem , which has to do with Togurtain biology" Ahsoka says . Aankin looks alarmed "Are you ill? What are you doing here then?" "No, I am not ill. It is just that we become uninterested in sex unless we eat compounds common in Togurtain food but not more common foods and it is expensive to buy. I haven't been able to buy and Lux has begun to notice. I can go through the motions and I am happy if he is happy but I am not a very good actress and if I am uninterested he loses interest and is unhappy. It isn't unpleasant , it is merely as interesting as push ups. "

Anakin replies "How expensive is expensive?" She shrugs "About 5,000 a year." He smiles "I'll speak to Padme, it can be our yearly anniversary presents." Ahsoka says " Anakin, no, I can't do that to her . I would feel like a leech." He laughs "She spends four or five times that much on party dresses. She says that people would think Naboo was impoverished if she wasn't doing so and take advantage of it. I was skeptical until I had to go to these dreadful senate parties and met the social barracudas there. Besides you know she will get it out of me sometime tonight and then insist, so we might as well get it over with." She sighs "You are probably right" .

They call and explain things. "I understand your predicament , Ahsoka. As an ex-slave Anakin often feels the same way not wanting to be under any obligation. So how about this? I have a job for you." Ahsoka looks doubtful "I am more than a little busy you know." Padme replies "Oh, it doesn't take much time. All you would have to do is to show up to various parties when you are in Corescant and time permits so Anakin can slide out of it." Ahsoka replies "How is that worth 5,000 credits? I don't want to be a charity case." Padme laughs "You are a Jedi, my dear. You aren't Anakin but you are a Jedi. Believe me I know a lot of people who would pay far more than 5,000 credits to meet a real, live Jedi. It would go to charity, of course but it could easily be worth 50,000 or more. Everyone will come out happy. You and Lux are happy, I am happy for helping you and helping my charities and Anakin will be more than happy to slide out of them." She glances at Anakin "I see what you mean. Anakin and I can do small talk but we don't like it. Very well, I accept."

Anakin says "Rex, I want your men to back up Waxer when he enters the building. Something is wrong here and I don't know what it is." Rex replies "Roger that" and then turns to his men and says "You heard the general now move!" They turn a corner and suddenly out from the ground rises a platform with a dozen battle droids. Rex falls flat and 3 of them go down. He is hit on the head by a blaster bolt and goes down. Ahsoka uses force speed to get next to him taking down the rest of the droids quickly. She looks at him and he is still breathing. The helmet took most of the damage. He doesn't look too well though. "I hope Skyguy taught me this well" and she lays her hands over him. After a few moments Rex comes to and Ahsoka breathes a sigh of relief. "I thought we lost you. How do you feel?" "Pretty good. Amazingly good if you thought I might be dead." he replies "Skywalker apparently taught me well. He recently taught me how to use the force for healing. He picked it up from Yoda. " He grins "Well , that's useful. Come on kid, we have more tinnies to kill." She grins and continues on.

Meanwhile General Skywalker gets a message "This is Admiral Tanz. We were attacked and lost most of our supply ships. We were caught napping I am afraid. I sent some of my frigates to deal with some pirates when we were suddenly hit by CIS cruisers. They seem to have upgraded their tri-fighters as well. These seemed faster than the previous ones." "Lovely" comments Skywalker "How much supplies do we have left?" "Besides what you have left, about 3 days left." Skywalker says "Damn, we will have to retreat!" he cuts his comm and then mutters "That would never have happened under Yularen. Well, he does deserve the R&R." He then contacts Ahsoka saying "Ahsoka, we are pulling out!" "What?" she cries "We have them on the run!" Skywalker replies "The Seps just cut off our supplies. We have to leave." She replies "Copy that." She then yells to Waxer "General Skywalker ordered us to pull out!" He salutes her and says through his comm "You heard her, boys ! Move, move, move." Everyone boards the gunships in a depressed mood. The Republic hadn't had to pull back out much lately , particularly with Skywalker.

General Danaz calls Count Dooku on his holotransmitter and says "I am glad to report success. The Republic pulled out and is on the run. I destroyed 17 transports and 2 frigates without losing a vessel. The Republic will have to think about that. Most likely they will be forced to build more corvettes to protect Republic shipping. That should slow them down a bit. Those pirates did come in handy but I will make sure they will be on a short leash as ordered. Unlike Maul we don't want to lose support by being too closely tied to criminal trash." "Exactly" counters Dooku "They are an expendable asset but we have to make sure they don't let our enemies gain support through their stupidity. They will be closely watched. Dooku Out."


End file.
